It is hard to believe that it has been four years since we opened Medical Center of the Rockies. Happy birthday to all of the employees, volunteers, physicians, community members and others who worked so hard to make this happen.
About seven years ago, when we were just in the planning stages of MCR, it seemed like it would never happen. During that time I happened to be driving with Chad McWhinney, CEO of McWhinney Enterprises, and we were talking about how difficult it was to make things like this happen. We agreed during that car ride that when MCR opened he and I would stand at the top of MCR and toast the event with a glass of sparkling cider (he was so kind to indulge the fact that I don’t drink :) So, several years later, at the grand opening of MCR, we were fortunate enough to keep our pledge to each other.
Chad McWhinney and Rulon Stacey at MCR Grand Opening
During the four years of operation of MCR the team at MCR and the rest of PVHS has been successful in meeting every clinical and financial expectation. Let me summarize just a few:
Clinical: Just a few months ago MCR received Magnet designation from the American Nurse Credentialing Center. In receiving that designation they joined Poudre Valley Hospital (which is one of just a handful of hospitals in the United States to receive Magnet designation three separate times), the intermountain West’s first Magnet designated hospital. To their credit, MCR applied for Magnet designation the moment they were eligible, which makes MCR, as far as I know, the first hospital ever to receive this designation as soon as they were eligible.
Clinical 2: And…it gets even better! Just a few weeks ago the ANCC announced that MCR and PVH were two of only five hospitals in the country to receive the NDNQI award for outstanding nursing quality. Again…remember that MCR has only been in existence FOUR years! What an amazing accomplishment! (see my blog post from a few weeks ago outlining this outstanding accomplishment)
Financial: In the early days of MCR I was amused by the number of people who were trying to find ways to discredit the amazing accomplishments of the people involved there. My favorite was “a million dollars a month.” Several in the area were suggesting that MCR was losing “a million dollars a month” and that it would not be in business long, or that in order to stay in business we would have to compromise our mission by contracting with Kaiser, etc. This, of course, after they said we would never get financing to build the hospital in the first place. So….four years later, the facts are that MCR is well ahead of every projection we put in place, and both Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s have given PVHS bond rating upgrades in each of the last several years. Doesn’t hardly seem likely that bond rating agencies would be so positive in light of “a million dollars a month!” 
So…congratulations to the entire MCR staff for Four great years! You have distinguished yourself like no other new hospital I have ever worked with!
Rulon
Congratulations to PVHS. It has been an amazing accomplishment and will continue to grow.