Posts

UCHealth’s Merger With A 100-Year-Old Pueblo Hospital Strengthens Its Dominant Spot In The Health Care Market

/in , /by

On a chilly morning last month, Darrin Smith, the president and CEO of Pueblo’s Parkview Health System, stood outside the 100-year-old system’s flagship hospital and gazed upon a bundled-up crowd.

“This is a wow moment,” Smith said. “This is a wow moment for Parkview and for the citizens of southern Colorado.”

The occasion was to announce that Parkview would no longer be an independent health care system. Instead, with Parkview’s absorption into the UCHealth system, it became the latest example of a trend of consolidation sweeping through the hospital industry, including in Colorado.

Both systems are nonprofit, so this was a merger and not a purchase. Terms of the deal were simple: As part of the merger, UCHealth committed to spending at least $175 million over the next 10 years for the benefit of Parkview, and it cut a $5 million check to the related Parkview Foundation to fund various projects and services in the community. The merger also provides additional strength to UCHealth, which has been expanding its footprint. Already, UCHealth is the state’s largest hospital system in terms of net patient revenue.

“It’s just the next step in an overall trend of the last 15 years or more of consolidation of hospitals and hospital systems,” said Allan Baumgarten, a Minnesota-based health care analyst who produces studies on the Colorado hospital market. “In the case of UCHealth, they’ve been expanding and basically establishing a presence certainly along the entire Front Range and a little bit into the mountains.”

Why Parkview Wanted The Merger

The two health systems first agreed to a merger letter of intent in October 2022, and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser signed off on the merger in May. But Judy Fonda, the chair of Parkview’s board of directors, said at last month’s ceremony to mark the transition that discussion around a merger with another health care system had been ongoing for quite a while.

“Our board has recognized for some time that the hospital would be strengthened by partnering with a larger health care system,” Fonda said.

The motivation for that can be found in Parkview’s balance sheets. Like many non-metro Denver hospitals, Parkview has struggled financially in recent years. The health system lost $11 million last fiscal year and $43 million the year before that, according to an audited financial statement filed with the federal Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board. The bulk of those losses came from operations — meaning the hospital wasn’t getting paid enough to cover its costs of providing medical care.

In 2022, Parkview closed its inpatient psychiatric unit, citing financial burden, according to The Pueblo Chieftain. In the merger notice it provided to the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, UCHealth pledged that Parkview will continue to provide maternity care and comprehensive women’s health care — something that’s significant given that those services are often targets for cash-strapped hospitals.

In talking about the merger, Parkview leaders often spoke of continuity — that Parkview would continue to exist to provide care, that it would continue to be a major employer and contributor to the region’s economy.

“Becoming part of the UCHealth family strengthens the care provided in our community, ensuring the patients and residents in Pueblo and southern Colorado will continue to have access to high-quality care,” Smith said during the merger ceremony.

Why UCHealth Wanted The Merger

In her remarks at the ceremony, UCHealth president and CEO Elizabeth Concordia likewise framed the merger in terms of patient care.

“We are very, very focused on making sure that Parkview thrives and that patients can continue to come here close to home for their care,” Concordia said.

But Baumgarten said the merger also strengthens UCHealth’s hand financially in the state.

“Having that geographic footprint and having that site gives them considerable bargaining strength when they’re negotiating with the major payors in the state,” Baumgarten said.

In other words, UCHealth can now negotiate higher prices with private insurers. This is one of the major concerns surrounding the consolidation trend. Studies have found that hospital consolidation drives up prices and insurance costs.

That’s one explanation for the merger craze in the hospital industry nationwide. By one analysis, there were more than 1,800 hospital mergers in the U.S. between 1998 and 2022, reducing the number of independent hospitals by 2,000. A Kaiser Family Foundation analysis found that, by 2017, two-thirds of hospitals nationally were part of health systems, up from a little over 50% in 2005.

In Colorado, UCHealth scooped up Yampa Valley Medical Center in Steamboat Springs in 2017. CommonSpirit Health acquired St. Elizabeth Hospital in Fort Morgan in 2022, and Colorado-based SCL Health merged with Intermountain Health the same year.

The exterior of the University of Colorado Hospital on the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, photographed on Oct. 18, 2019. The hospital is the flagship of the UCHealth system. (PHOTO CREDIT: John Ingold, The Colorado Sun)

Baumgarten said the Parkview merger has other benefits for UCHealth beyond negotiating leverage. For one, as a system with teaching and research as part of its core mission, it now has access to more patients who can potentially be recruited for clinical trials. The merger also gives UCHealth specialists a larger patient base for referrals.

According to another document filed with the MSRB, Parkview saw roughly 150,000 outpatient visits and more than 68,000 inpatient days last fiscal year.

“Each of those patients has value to the UCHealth system,” Baumgarten said.

Standing outside his hospital last month, Smith, Parkview’s CEO, focused instead on the value the hospital’s new owner will bring to his patients.

“I am filled with hope for what lies ahead,” Smith said. “This partnership between UCHealth and Parkview heralds a new era of progress and innovation for Pueblo and southern Colorado.”

 

Source: Colorado Sun

Medical Center Of The Rockies In Loveland, Colorado, Launches $280M Expansion

/in , /by

UCHealth officially broke ground on a major expansion project at Medical Center of the Rockies that is designed to help meet the growing health care needs of Northern Colorado.

A new tower is part of the expansion plan at Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland. (PHOTO CREDIT:: UCHealth)

The project includes a new tower that will be built on the north side of the hospital, the creation of a cancer center, an expanded emergency department and additional imaging and cardiac spaces.

When complete, the project will increase the hospital’s bed capacity from 191 to 287 with room to grow up to 323 beds. Staffing will grow as well; UCHealth expects to hire more than 250 employees before the expansion opens.

“Northern Colorado has grown significantly since 2007, when MCR first opened its doors in Centerra,” said Kevin Unger, president and chief executive officer of the hospital. “We have proudly served our growing community here, and we are now thrilled to expand our facility and capacity to continue to meet the needs of our patients today and into the future.”

The cancer center is expected to begin seeing patients next year, and the new tower is expected to open in 2026.

The $280 million project will include:

  • A five-story tower that will house a surgical intensive care unit, a progressive care unit and a trauma surgical unit. The tower will also house a radiation oncology department that will feature high-dose radiation therapy, which patients currently travel to metro Denver to receive, and a linear accelerator.
  • The cancer center will feature a new gynecological oncology clinic, a medical oncology clinic and an infusion center.
  • The emergency department will expand to include 22 new patient-care rooms and a new entrance.
  • A new cardiac catheterization lab, a cardiac device lab, a structural heart lab and a vascular lab will be added to the south side of the existing hospital building.
  • Imaging will be expanded with additional CT, ultrasound and MRI services and an interventional radiology suite on the east side of the existing hospital building.
  • Parking will be expanded for patients and staff.

The expansion is part of the original plans for the campus to accommodate service growth over time. The new tower will be connected directly to the existing facility and carry forward its Northern Colorado design character.

Haselden Construction is the general contractor on the project and is supported by The S/L/A/M Collaborative, the architect; BHA Design Inc, the landscape architect; RMH Group, the mechanical, electrical and plumbing team; Olsson, the civil engineer; S.A. Miro, the structural engineer; and Gallun Snow, the interior designer.

 

Source: BizWest

Medical Center Of The Rockies In Loveland Plans New Tower, $280M Expansion

/in , /by

Medical Center of the Rockies is growing into the future with a planned $280 million expansion that will add roughly 100 beds, nearly double the capacity of the emergency department and add a specialized cancer center at the Loveland campus.

(RENDERING CREDIT: UCHealth)

UCHealth, which owns and operates MCR, just announced it would break ground late next year on a five-story tower on the north side of the hospital to serve trauma-surgical, medical-surgical and surgical ICU patients. It will expand the hospital’s capacity from 187 to 283 with room to grow up to 319 beds.

“For several years, our hospitals in Northern Colorado have been operating at or near full capacity, and this investment will allow us to continue to meet the needs of our growing community,” said Kevin Unger, the president and chief executive officer of the hospital. “In addition to an increase in patient bed capacity, we are thrilled to build a comprehensive cancer center and expand our cardiac and imaging services.”

Northern Colorado grew rapidly in the last decade, with Weld County’s population up more than 30% and Larimer’s up nearly 20%. Partly because of that growth, the state has fewer hospital beds per capita than the U.S. average, according to The Kaiser Family Foundation.

The U.S. averages 2.38 beds per 1,000 residents; Colorado has 1.91 beds, the eight lowest among all states and the District of Columbia. Money for the expansion will come largely from UCHealth reserves and may include some philanthropic component.

“We don’t anticipate going out and doing any outside loans or bonds,” Unger said. “As a nonprofit health system, that’s what reserves are for. We don’t pay shareholders. All of our reserves are used for staffing, new technology, equipment and buildings. We are fortunate in Northern Colorado … to be in a population that’s growing rather than shrinking. Our goal is to continue to meet community needs, and for that we need additional capacity. The tower is one of two that will eventually be built at MCR, The beauty of MCR is because it was a greenfield build, we already planned for two new towers.”

The second tower will likely be built sooner rather than later based on the region’s rapid growth.

“We do have that expansion capability at MCR. We’re seeing higher acuity, longer lengths of stay, and population growth driving this as well as unbelievable physicians, nurses and providers within the facility,” Unger said.

With a new tower comes the need for 1,200 to 1,400 additional employees to staff the tower.

“It’s a blessing this project will take awhile to complete; it will take us awhile to staff it,” Unger said. “Construction could be the easier part of the two.”

How Will Loveland And Fort Collins Cancer Centers Differ?

The cancer center is expected to start seeing patients in mid-2024, and the new tower is expected to open in 2026. The new cancer center will feature high-dose radiation therapy, which patients currently travel to metro Denver to receive, as well as a new gynecological oncology clinic; a new radiation oncology program, including a linear accelerator; and additional medical oncology clinic and infusion space.

When it opened in 2014, the Fort Collins cancer center at UCHealth’s Harmony Road campus had room for three linear accelerators and is now at capacity.

“The core of the cancer program will still be based at Harmony … this will be more of a hub-and-spoke model,” Unger said.

Expansion Happening Throughout UCHealth Northern Colorado

The expansion comes on the heels of a $76.5 million expansion and renovation of Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins and the addition of 34 beds at UCHealth’s Greeley hospital that is building out the fourth floor of the 3-year-old facility.

With the updates, the Greely facility will have 87 available beds. It opened with 51 beds and added two ICU beds during the pandemic. The PVH renovation will revamp the front entrance and two of its five floors. It is expected to be finished in time for the hospital’s 100th anniversary in 2025.

Medical Center of the Rockies opened on Valentine’s Day 2007, relieving pressure on Poudre Valley Hospital and bringing UCHealth services to the Loveland area.

In July, MCR became the only Level 1 trauma center in Northern Colorado. UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins is a Level III trauma center and Banner Health’s NCMC is a Level II trauma center. MCR has been operating as a high-level trauma center for a couple years but didn’t have the volume of trauma patients required by the state to push it to Level 1 status until now.

The state Department of Public Health and Environment requires Level 1 trauma centers to have around-the-clock coverage by trauma surgeons and specialists in orthopedics, neurosurgery and anesthesiology, either in-house or on-call. The state also requires the hospital to provide trauma prevention and education.

In 2021, MCR treated 1,853 patients who met the criteria to be included on the trauma registry. That was more than double the 880 trauma patients treated at MCR when it opened in 2007.

The $280 million project at MCR will include:

• A five-story tower to serve trauma-surgical, medical-surgical and surgical ICU inpatients, among others.

• A cancer center on the first floors of both the north medical office building and the new tower. The new cancer center will feature high-dose radiation therapy, which patients currently travel to metro Denver to receive, as well as a new gynecological oncology clinic; a new radiation oncology program, including a linear accelerator; and additional medical oncology clinic and infusion space.

• The emergency department will grow from 27 to 49 rooms and include a new entrance.

• Two electrophysiology labs and two cardiac catheterization labs will be added to the south side of the existing hospital building.

• Imaging will be expanded with additional CT, ultrasound and MRI services and an additional interventional radiology suite on the east side of the existing hospital building.

• Parking will be expanded for patients and staff.

 

Source: Coloradoan