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Posts Tagged ‘Greeley Medical Clinic’

Docs on the road

Posted in Cancer, Family Health, Greeley Medical Clinic, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 12, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

One of the trends in modern health care is a return to going where patients are.

I wrote about this in a recent blog that focused on our Community Paramedic Program, and I alluded to the olden days of doctors arriving in a horse-drawn carriage at your front porch and climbing down, black medical bag in hand, to enter your home and care for your loved ones.

For much of the last half of the 1900s, this definitely wasn’t the case. A patient was expected to travel to physicians, no matter how far or how inconvenient it was for the sick person.

Thankfully, that model of care has moved off into the horizon, far, far away, and hopefully it’ll never wander back our way.

The Greeley Tribune recently published an excellent feature article about the frequent travels of two oncology physicians who have journeyed eastward for decades to treat patients in rural communities.

Dr. Kemme

The two featured physicians were Dr. Douglas Kemme, a physician with the Medical Clinic at Centerra, Loveland, who once a month motors to Yuma, on the eastern plains of Colorado, and Grant, Neb., and Dr. Thomas Lininger, a Greeley Medical Clinic physician who has  traveled to Sterling on a weekly basis for 35 years. As the Tribune pointed out, “That’s the equivalent of around the globe at least once.”

Now, that’s commitment to patients!

I’d like to offer some excerpts from the Tribune story as a way to tell you about the motivation. The staff reporter, Dan England, wrote:

“It doesn’t make much business sense to continue to travel to Yuma, he (Dr. Kemme) said. But there is something about those small towns. He sees the names of players on the basketball teams in store windows. Everybody is just so nice. They seem to appreciate him even more than the grateful patients in Greeley.”

Dr. Lininger

“…he wants his patients to be treated in their towns because that goes along with everything else he believes about how medicine works.

“…he said, ‘I see less patients, and I spend more time with them. A family physician might see three times the patients I do in one day. You have to have that personal contact. I want to know the names of their spouses and dogs.’”

PVHS does not have a policy requiring specialty physicians to go to rural areas to treat patients. That decision is left to individual doctors and their clinics.

Let me offer you an example of how dedicated city-based physicians are in traveling to rural areas to offer patient care. One of the pioneers in Fort Collins was Dr. Gary Luckasen, a founder of the Heart Center of the Rockies. The journeying to rural areas began in 1980 and now HCOR physicians routinely travel to small communities on the prairies and in the mountains.

“There was a huge gap that we saw and decided to fill,” Dr. Luckasen recalls. “Going to the areas where patients live has worked out well for the patients and their families. Our coming to them causes considerably less physical, emotional and medical stress on the patient.”

Dr. Luckasen

I asked our physician outreach department to gather some facts to give a perspective on how extensively the specialty physicians on our medical staff travel to rural areas to hold clinics. “Clinics,” by the way, is what we call these visits; physicians will see patients in previously arranged clinic locations like local physician offices or community hospitals in the rural towns.

Here’s the info for 2011:

• Our physicians received a total of 12,229 patient visits in rural areas.

• The Colorado communities included Brush, Craig, Estes Park, Fort Morgan, Grandby, Holyoke, Kremmling, Steamboat Springs, Sterling, Walden, Wray, and Yuma. The Nebraska communities were Alliance, Grant and Sidney.

• The medical specialties taken to patients were cardiology, cardiovascular surgery, general surgery, nephrology, neurology, oncology, and pulmonology. All of these are specialties generally not found in small communities, where, typically, family medicine is the primary avenue for medical care.

Our director of physician outreach services, Erica DeMint, offers this perspective on why local physicians hold rural clinics:

“The shortage of medical services is a big issue in rural communities. Local hospitals and clinics are often staffed by family physicians who are stretched to provide care across a wide spectrum of conditions. The on-site specialty clinics that our physicians hold augment services already available to patients and families where they need it the most—close to home.

“Working closely with the existing local physicians and other healthcare providers in the rural communities to build relationships enhances patient care and provides access to additional valuable patient resources that may be unavailable locally, such as diabetes education, information about bariatric services and cardiac device monitoring,” Erica concludes.

I’d like to say thank you to all of the physicians who go the extra mile (literally!) to offer care to rural residents. In conjunction with local physicians in these communities, they provide services that will help to keep the people in our region healthy.

Rulon

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Leading hospitals form University of Colorado Health

Posted in University of Colorado Health, tagged , , , , , , on January 31, 2012 | 2 Comments »

I have great news that I want to share with you.

The University of Colorado Hospital and Poudre Valley Health System announced Jan. 31 that we have completed the formal documents to create a new and unique health system in Colorado and the Rocky Mountain West. We have worked diligently on creating this partnership since we announced our intentions in the summer.

Our goal is vigorous, ambitious and extremely important to the health care of patients in our community and throughout Colorado. We will fully integrate the University of Colorado Hospital, the best academic medical center in the nation, with PVHS, one of the best community health system in the United States.

Because of the exceptional talent assembled in the new system, we can collectively accomplish patient-care outcomes that may be unachievable if either of our organizations moved forward alone. Together, we will be the most dynamic, high quality provider of patient care in the Rocky Mountain West and we expect that our new system will become a leader in remaking America’s healthcare system.

The name of the new system will be University of Colorado Health. In selecting this name, we conducted extensive research that determined the name has the highest appeal to patients we serve. In addition, the name makes the most sense when we take into account the much broader patient base that the new health system will serve: all of Colorado and possibly adjacent states.

Our local hospitals—Poudre Valley Hospital and Medical Center of the Rockies, and the University of Colorado Hospital—will retain their names and also be identified as part of University of Colorado Health.

I feel fortunate in being named as the chief executive officer of University of Colorado Health. I will be responsible for overall operation and strategic direction, and I will work closely with the new organization’s 11-member board and Bruce Schroffel, the University of Colorado Hospital president and CEO who has been named the president of the board of directors for University of Colorado Health.

Here’s what you can expect in the future:

The quality of local patient care in our community will be enhanced. Community members will still be treated locally. The new organization will be robust and we anticipate increasing local employment numbers for the healthcare professional and support industries. Our new organization will be far better for our local patients, physicians, staff members, and communities.

I would like to encourage you to learn more by attending one of the community town hall meetings that we will hold:

  • 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 7, in the Long’s Peak meeting room at the Medical Center of the Rockies, Loveland.
  • 5:30 p.m., Wed., Feb. 8, in the Cafe F meeting room at Poudre Valley Hospital, Fort Collins.
  • 5:30 p.m., Thur., Feb. 9, in MCR’s Long’s Peak meeting room.
  • 5:30 p.m., Fri., Feb. 10, in PVH’s Cafe F meeting room.
  • 5:30 p.m., Mon., Feb. 13, at the Greeley Medical Clinic, 1900 16th Street, Greeley.

For more information on the Jan. 31 announcement, please read the press release and visit the new organization’s website. And please visit our fact sheet to learn more about the new organization and its board of directors.

The creation of the new organization required dedicated efforts by many individuals–employees of the two organizations, the boards for each organization, physicians, and community leaders. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them!

Rulon

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PVHS brings national quality and local control of health care in Greeley and Weld County

Posted in Emergency response, Family Health, Greeley Medical Clinic, Health, Magnet, Patient satisfaction, Physician integration, Robotics, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on January 25, 2012 | 5 Comments »

During the weekend, the Greeley Tribune published a package of staff-written news articles and guest editorials that focused on health care in Greeley and Weld County. I was asked to write a guest editorial that looked at the future of Poudre Valley Health System’s involvement there.

Simply put, the future is exciting and full of additional healthcare benefits and options for the people we serve.

PVHS will continue to provide high-quality care that is easily accessible for Greeley and Weld County residents. Our commitment to high quality and easy access is also the same for the other people we serve in the large region that PVHS covers in northern Colorado, Wyoming and southwestern Nebraska.

I have to say, though, that it is critically important to look at the recent past and what’s happening now in the Greeley medical scene to be aware of what may happen in the future.

Because my guest editorial had the usual 600-word limit for guest editorials in the Tribune, I was unable to delve into the historical perspective that I believe is critical. In my editorial I asked readers to come to my blog to learn more of the details about all that is happening in Weld County.

During the last 10 or 12 years, I have received phone calls from dozens of physicians who practice in different medical specialties in Greeley. They all had a similar concern, a major one.

They believed they were being disenfranchised by the Greeley medical establishment—specifically by Banner Health, which manages North Colorado Medical Center and has corporate headquarters in Phoenix—and this, they told me, resulted in their careers, their lives and their families being turned upside down. Many physicians revealed to me that they felt like they were being driven out of the community.

For several years I referred these physicians back to Greeley medical leaders hoping they would promote a solution.

During this same period, Poudre Valley Health System focused on finding collaborative ways to work with local physicians in Fort Collins and Loveland to provide high-quality patient care in our region.

Our collaborative efforts resulted in Poudre Valley Hospital, Fort Collins, being named in 2000 as the first Magnet Hospital for Nursing Excellence between Los Angeles and Minnesota. Today PVH is one of only 17 hospitals to have received the designation three times in a row. Our Medical Center of the Rockies, which opened in 2007 in Loveland, received the designation nearly the moment the hospital was eligible.

Additionally, during this time PVHS started the first American College of Surgeons-verified level II trauma center in northern Colorado; began the first robotic surgery program in our region; and developed the region’s busiest heart program.

PVHS also became the first recipient and remains the only two-time recipient of the Colorado’s highest quality award, the Peak Performance Award presented by the Colorado Performance Excellence Program. In mid-January, PVHS became the only Colorado-owned and -operated health system to be selected as one of the nation’s top 15 health systems.

The most notable honor was when the President of the United States announced that Poudre Valley Health System was selected to receive the nation’s highest quality award, the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. PVHS is one of only 15 healthcare organizations ever to receive that honor.

While PVHS was distinguishing itself locally, regionally and nationally, the issue of physician disenfranchisement in Greeley continued.

Of course, you don’t have to take my word for it. I encourage you to find any physician who has practiced in Greeley for more than a decade and ask if my assessment is accurate. I believe the chances are excellent that you’ll receive an answer similar to what I wrote above.

A few years ago the physicians with the Greeley Medical Clinic, the largest and oldest multi-specialty medical group in northern Colorado, realized they faced irresolvable issues with Banner Health. They began an exhaustive and objective search for a partner which they believe would work with them to put their patients first.

So that’s how GMC and PVHS linked up. We had fruitful talks and discovered mutual hopes and dreams and goals for high quality care for Greeley and Weld County residents.

In a comparatively short period of time, it became clear that the visions of GMC and PVHS were identical: Patients must come first and the care they receive must be extremely high quality … and the best way to achieve this is to maintain local control over healthcare decisions.

After many in-depth discussions and planning sessions, GMC physicians and PVHS leaders agreed to an affiliation.

This decision led to PVHS expanding its world-class care to Greeley and Weld County. In partnership with the outstanding physicians and staff of GMC in Greeley, we have continued to expand by developing new services, opening medical facilities in Windsor, bringing the Aspen Club and Healthy Kids Club into Greeley, and employing 1,100 Greeley and Weld County residents.

While PVHS has continued to offer more healthcare services to Greeley and Weld County, some vocal and very uninformed pundits have suggested that PVHS began serving the city and county solely to “steal away” or “cherry-pick” patients from Greeley.

Some pundits have said this even as we grow and expand services in Greeley.

Our most recent addition—a full service emergency room and one-day surgery center—will be completed in west Greeley by the fall of this year. We are excited that this project will enhance care and accessibility, and create even more healthcare options for Greeley residents without their having to travel very far from their homes.

The new medical facility is an example of the exact reason why GMC chose to affiliate with PVHS. Their decision was not about market share or budgets or filling patient beds. Instead, it had everything to do with GMC physicians wanting to be decision-making members of an organization that works closely with physicians to accomplish mutual goals for providing high-quality care for their patients.

During these last two successful years since the GMC-PVHS affiliation was formed, the same ill-informed pundits have continued to criticize PVHS by incorrectly portraying us an outsider bent on stealing away patients.

Such an accusation does a great disservice to 79 years of service to Greeley and Weld Country by the Greeley Medical Clinic. If GMC is not Greeley-born and -bred…who is, then?

The process that resulted in GMC stepping away from Banner Health seems to have played itself out all over again last spring, this time with an even more abrupt change.

This occurred when the long-experienced and very distinguished emergency physician group in Greeley was suddenly and surprisingly dismissed from practicing at North Colorado Medical Center. The service these highly skilled physicians provided was nationally ranked and medically respected.

So, once again, a significant number of physicians felt disenfranchised from work and life in Greeley. I heard from many of them.

To continue living in or near Greeley and to remain true to their commitment to serve local patients, many of these physicians elected to join Emergency Physicians of the Rockies, an independent physician group in Northern Colorado. These highly qualified physicians will staff the emergency services part of our center under construction in west Greeley, once again providing the same outstanding emergency services that have distinguished them for years. And they will provide this service while continuing to live and work and raise their children in Greeley…just as GMC physicians have done for generations.

Because the medical leadership of Greeley’s air ambulance was also imbedded in this group of emergency physicians, we elected to ask them to continue providing their outstanding service by creating our own helicopter program. For many years PVHS used the air ambulance service at NCMC because it provided a high quality and trusted service. Our service will now continue with those same medical leaders who have lived and worked in the Greeley community.

PVHS has moved ahead on the air ambulance program because we see a great need and opportunity for regionalized services. Our program, which will start this spring, will feature a helicopter specially designed to safely transfer patients out of such high-altitude areas as Rocky Mountain National Park.

Collaboration with regional providers is the type of relationship that we have always tried to develop and foster. Last year I approached NCMC leaders with the hope that we could also find a way to work together and avoid duplication on the many medical services needed in Greeley, Weld County and the rest of northern Colorado.

Unfortunately, I was told that they were unwilling to meet if the local Greeley physicians were involved. Of course, that type of attitude appears to me to be a driver behind what has happened to physicians in Greeley. Just so you know, we—PVHS—will always work first with physicians in trying to create healthcare solutions in the region.

To return to the focus of the Tribune’s news package … What is the future of health care in Greeley and Weld County?

The answer:

PVHS is there now…and GMC has been there for longer than most of us have been alive. We will continue to work closely with local physicians who have cared for generations of Weld County and Greeley patients. Care will be provided in Greeley and, for Windsor-area patients, in Windsor.

We will provide high quality care. We will make sure patients come first.

We will be there today, tomorrow and far beyond.

Rulon

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Our new west Greeley facility will make health care more accessible

Posted in Emergency response, Greeley Medical Clinic, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on December 2, 2011 | 7 Comments »

(Dear Reader: The following guest blog was written by Grace Taylor, chief strategy officer for Poudre Valley Health System. It offers information on a new healthcare service that we’re developing. –Rulon)

One of the successful strategic tactics that we have used at Poudre Valley Health System is to make access to health care easy for community members.

In 2007, we opened Medical Center of the Rockies to increase healthcare access for Loveland area residents and enhance rapid access to trauma care.

In the last several years, we’ve worked with physicians in Fort Collins, Greeley, Loveland, and Windsor to make access easier. Most notably, we’ve worked closely with physicians at the Greely Medical Clinic to help in their efforts to continue providing the ongoing easy access to high quality of care offered at the clinic since 1933.

We’ve done this because local and national research has demonstrated time and again that the preference of patients is to have easy access to their care providers.

With this strategy in mind and with the support of local physicians, we announced December 2 that we will build an emergency and same-day surgery center in North Gate Village in west Greeley.

Greeley experienced more than a 20.7-percent population growth during the last decade, much of which occurred in west Greeley. Where there is growth, there is a greater demand for convenient, quality medical services.

The new freestanding outpatient facility will bring choice and increase access to health care in Weld County and will likely reduce the amount of time patients have to wait to receive emergency medical care.

The 24-hour emergency care center will be staffed with board-certified emergency room physicians. The team of physicians and nurses will be trained and equipped to handle about any emergency except severe trauma cases, which will be sent to a hospital where trauma services are offered.

The emergency care center will have 10 examination rooms, two pediatric exam rooms, a resuscitation room, and laboratory. A diagnostic imaging area will include X-ray, ultrasound, CT, and MRI.

The surgery center will include three preparatory areas, two operating rooms, three recovery rooms, and an observation room. Same day-surgery will be offered for select general and elective surgeries in the areas of endoscopy, gastroenterology, orthopedics, and urology, as well as outpatient surgery. In addition, the center will offer IV therapy services.

The development of the 22,000-square-foot facility is another step forward in the care that PVHS offers to Weld County and northern Colorado. The facility, which is not yet named, is scheduled to open in June.

To learn more information about the facility and what will be offered there, please click here to go the press announcement on our website, pvhs.org.

Grace

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PVHS priority: Patient welfare

Posted in Corporate accountability, Greeley Medical Clinic, Healthcare reform, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on August 1, 2011 | 2 Comments »

The president and chairman of the board of directors for North Colorado Medical Center, Inc., published a guest editorial in mid-July in northern Colorado newspapers saying Poudre Valley Health System plans to build a hospital in west Greeley.

I’d like to make sure community members have the correct information.

The fact is that PVHS has never even discussed the possibility of building a hospital in west Greeley or anywhere in Weld County. We agree with the chairman’s assertion that such duplication often serves only to increase healthcare costs.

However, I can’t believe that Banner Health System—the Phoenix-headquartered organization that manages NCMC and owns McKee Medical Center in Loveland—is overly concerned about duplication because it has announced plans to build a third hospital in Morgan County.

As the largest locally controlled provider of healthcare throughout northern Colorado, PVHS is committed to ensure that our internationally recognized patient-care services remain both accessible and affordable to you.

For that reason, we will continue to work with physicians you have grown to know and trust in Loveland, Fort Collins, Windsor, or at the Greeley Medical Clinic in Weld County to explore innovative ways to provide state-of-the-art care close to the homes of community members.

The PVHS goal is for regional neighbors in the healthcare profession to work collaboratively so collectively we focus on what’s right for patients and physicians. We will continue to work with regional and local providers wherever possible.

The road has been less smooth at times than we would like. Since formalizing our relationship with the Greeley Medical Clinic we’ve endeavored to use existing medical services in Weld County, even if those services were part of another health system.

Unfortunately, our options were limited a year ago when NCMC leadership elected to deny access to the hospital to specialists working with GMC. Regardless, GMC and PVHS are committed to finding every way possible to meet the medical needs of residents of Greeley, Windsor, and the rest of Weld County, as well as Larimer County and elsewhere in our region, with our outstanding clinical care.

Our joint plan for growth in Frederick with Longmont United Hospital and our recent management agreement with the hospital in Sidney, Neb., are two recent examples of collaboration to ensure local control to keep quality high and costs low. Additionally, our impending affiliation with University of Colorado Hospital will ensure the PVHS tradition of world-class quality continues side by side with UCH’s world-class research and education.

Inaccurate assumptions and conclusions as were displayed in the most recent guest editorial serve only to confuse community members and erode the reputations of PVHS; McKee Medical Center, Medical Center of the Rockies, Loveland; Poudre Valley Hospital, Fort Collins; and NCMC. If my actions in the past have contributed to this inaccuracy, I want to apologize for the confusion.

Northern Colorado residents are fortunate because we have excellent hospitals in PVH, MCR, NCMC, and McKee. Like MCR and PVH, NCMC is a Magnet hospital for nursing excellence, a distinction enjoyed by only a small percentage of U.S. hospitals.

We also have access to the foremost in new technology, such as the TrueBeam STx linear accelerator PVHS is now installing and will be treating cancer patients with in the very near future.

As PVHS works to enhance services offered by our two hospitals—MCR and PVH—we have opened new clinics and affiliated with existing ones to maximize quality while creating efficiencies to keep costs down.

Such efforts are crucial as we work to address national healthcare reform. Organizations must work together to be more efficient and undergo a fundamental shift from the current model of treating patients in hospitals to keeping patients healthy so they remain out of hospitals.

I hope all of us in the northern Colorado healthcare community will be better able to work collaboratively as we address the constantly changing healthcare environment.

I encourage you to stay in touch with PVHS by reading http://www.pvhs.org and my blog (visionary.pvhs.org). Please offer your thoughts on what we do well and where you think we can improve. With all of us working together, I am confident we will better meet your healthcare needs.

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An evening with the University of Northern Colorado

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on February 15, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

On Saturday night my wife and I, along with several Greeley Medical Clinic physicians, staff members and their guests were treated to a wonderful evening at the Union Colony Civic Center with the University of Northern Colorado College of Performing and Visual Arts annual Gala.  Poudre Valley Health System was honored to be a major sponsor of the program and thrilled to be involved.

I have to tell you that the evening was spectacular.  The students were amazing…honestly…just amazing.  And, I also have to tell you, even the faculty members were pretty good! :)   It was a combination of talent and personal interaction that is not often seen.

I had the opportunity to speak to the audience for just a moment and took that time to express gratitude to the physicians and staff at GMC.  They have been the local healthcare option in Greeley for 78 years now, and we are thrilled to be a partner with them.  As I said on Saturday, these are residents of Northern Colorado providing world-class healthcare to residents of Northern Colorado in an organization that is managed, lead and governed exclusively by residents of Northern Colorado.  That makes this organization unique in their ability to meet the needs of people of Northern Colorado — and it only makes sense that we would support — the University of Northern Colorado.

Congratulations to the UNC College of Performing Arts.  You are truly amazing!

Rulon

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More PVHS Leadership Training

Posted in Greeley Medical Clinic, Healthcare reform, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, Quality improvement, Uncategorized, tagged , , , on November 24, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

If you will remember, I was giving you a summary of some of the things that happened at our leadership training a few weeks ago.  That day was so productive!

PVHS Fall Leadership Training

 

In addition to the other outstanding speakers I have already pointed out in my blog, we were also fortunate enough to have Dr. Dan Zenk, the President of the Greeley Medical Clinic, come and talk to us about the recent changes in their practice.  Earlier this summer the GMC physicians made the decision to align with the Poudre Valley Medical Group, even though their main campus is literally across the street from North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley.

Dr. Zenk speaking at the PVHS Leadership Quarterly Meeting

Dr. Zenk, a former member of the North Colorado Medical Center Board of Directors,  talked about the history of GMC and what their goals have been for the 75 years that they have been in existence.  Their goals have been and continue to be focused totally on the patient and doing everything they can to provide the best possible care to the patients of Greeley and Northern Colorado.  In pursing this objective the physicians of GMC, the largest multi specialty group in the region, decided that the The Poudre Valley Health System had the best track record of working with physicians to meet the needs of the patients we serve.  He argued that healthcare reform is going to require partnerships like we have never had before, and picking the right partner was of paramount importance to their group.

 Now that they have made the choice to partner with PVHS he said that they are more convinced than ever that they have done the right thing.  PVMG physicians continue to use NCMC whenever they are allowed by NCMC to do so, and he pointed out that in an effort to promote cooperation in the region, PVHS recently added NCMC as one of its authorized providers for PVHS employees.  Dr. Zenk suggested that this type of collegial relationship between PVHS, PVMG, and other community employers and physicians in the region is what has distinguished PVHS as one of the premier health systems in the entire country.

He used this background to suggest to all of the leaders of PVHS that in an era of healthcare reform they never forget what has distinguished them in Colorado and the entire country.  It has been the PVHS commitment to putting the patient first and meeting the needs of the physicians with whom we work that has set PVHS apart from the rest.  Dr. Zenk outlined to the leadership group of PVHS that they were the ones charged with making sure this continued in the future.  In an era of healthcare reform, he suggested that we will have many outside pressures to reduce our commitment to quality, to our physicians, to our employees and to the community.  His counsel was for each leader to continue to lead by example in their respective units.  Focus on the right things, he said, and the right things will happen.  It was an inspirational talk by one of the Deans of healthcare in Weld County and Northern Colorado.

Thanks so much to Dr. Zenk for taking time to help explain the process and outcome of the recent GMC affiliation with PVMG.
Rulon

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More reflections: The future of Poudre Valley Health System and Greeley Medical Clinic

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 26, 2010 | 5 Comments »

In my last post I offered some thoughts that had been on my mind relative to the growth of Poudre Valley Health System over the past many years, and more specifically, the recent surge during the past few months. I have a few more:

Walking through Greeley Medical Clinic last Friday I was reminded of those in the Greeley community who have been told that PVHS will now require that GMC patients will be moved to Loveland for their care. I thought it was amusing to talk to the staff at GMC who know that such a requirement has never been discussed, let alone implemented.

Interestingly, many PVHS physicians have applied for privileges at NCMC to be better able to take care of Greeley patients in Greeley but, so far, the requests to work there have been denied. Ironically, the biggest barrier to Greeley patients being able to receive care in Greeley is a policy at NCMC that does not allow certain physicians to admit patients to their hospital.

I have often been asked what makes PVHS different, and I have to suggest it is the effort to put patients first no matter what. The result has been a healthcare system that is outpacing others in the industry. Some of the information to support that claim:

  1. Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Still the only healthcare organization within 650 miles to be recognized by the president of the United States. Honestly…just WOW.
  2. American Nurses Association Magnet designation. This is a designation for organizations that make a truly unique effort to allow nurses the opportunity to provide the highest quality nursing care. Poudre Valley Hospital was only the 11th hospital in the country to ever receive this designation, and only the 7th in the country to be designated three times. Medical Center of the Rockies will receive its first site visit later this year, and was selected to receive that visit literally the first day they were eligible. Again…wow.
  3. Thompson-Reuters Top 100 Health Systems. Announced just last month, this is a list of all the best health systems in the country. PVHS is the only Colorado-owned health system on the list.
  4. Colorado Performance Excellence. PVHS was the first organization in any industry to receive Colorado’s highest quality award, and still today is the only organization to be recognized with that distinction twice.

The list could go on and on but I think you get the picture. PVHS, with its amazing physicians, staff and volunteers has simply put together a remarkable organization that has distinguished itself throughout the country and the world. What an honor it is for me to be associated with so many talented and dedicated people. Further, how thrilled we are to be associated with an organization like GMC with people of such similar background and commitment.

The future looks very bright!

Rulon

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More reflections: The future of Poudre Valley Health System and Greeley Medical Clinic

Posted in Awards, Greeley Medical Clinic, Healthcare reform, Magnet, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, Patient satisfaction, Physician integration, tagged , , , on July 23, 2010 | 1 Comment »

In my last post I offered some thoughts that had been on my mind relative to the growth of Poudre Valley Health System over the past many years, and more specifically, the recent surge during the past few months. I have a few more:

Walking through Greeley Medical Clinic last Friday I was reminded of those in the Greeley community who have been told that PVHS will now require that GMC patients will be moved to Loveland for their care. I thought it was amusing to talk to the staff at GMC who know that such a requirement has never been discussed, let alone implemented.

Interestingly, many PVHS physicians have applied for privileges at NCMC to be better able to take care of Greeley patients in Greeley but, so far, the requests to work there have been denied. Ironically, the biggest barrier to Greeley patients being able to receive care in Greeley is a policy at NCMC that does not allow certain physicians to admit patients to their hospital.

I have often been asked what makes PVHS different, and I have to suggest it is the effort to put patients first no matter what. The result has been a healthcare system that is outpacing others in the industry. Some of the information to support that claim:

  1. Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Still the only healthcare organization within 650 miles to be recognized by the president of the United States. Honestly…just WOW.
  2. American Nurses Association Magnet designation. This is a designation for organizations that make a truly unique effort to allow nurses the opportunity to provide the highest quality nursing care. Poudre Valley Hospital was only the 11th hospital in the country to ever receive this designation, and only the 7th in the country to be designated three times. Medical Center of the Rockies will receive its first site visit later this year, and was selected to receive that visit literally the first day they were eligible. Again…wow.
  3. Thompson-Reuters Top 100 Health Systems. Announced just last month, this is a list of all the best health systems in the country. PVHS is the only Colorado-owned health system on the list.
  4. Colorado Performance Excellence. PVHS was the first organization in any industry to receive Colorado’s highest quality award, and still today is the only organization to be recognized with that distinction twice.

The list could go on and on but I think you get the picture. PVHS, with its amazing physicians, staff and volunteers has simply put together a remarkable organization that has distinguished itself throughout the country and the world. What an honor it is for me to be associated with so many talented and dedicated people. Further, how thrilled we are to be associated with an organization like GMC with people of such similar background and commitment.

The future looks very bright!

Rulon

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Reflections on a changing Poudre Valley Health System

Posted in Greeley Medical Clinic, Patient satisfaction, Physician integration, Quality improvement, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on July 20, 2010 | 2 Comments »

Our partnership with the Greeley Medical Clinic has given me a lot of opportunity to reflect on all that has happened at PVHS during the last 15 years. Human Resources VP Patti Oakes told me this week that one year ago PVHS had about 4,200 employees, and today we are pushing 5,500 people, with about 6,200 positions. That kind of growth is honestly remarkable.

It is evidence of what happens to an organization when each employee dedicates themselves to providing world-class health care. People from around the region and around the country have recognized the quality provided by PVHS employees, physicians and volunteers and are making a conscious effort to seek care here.

Yet, growth like this also presents challenges of which we must be conscious. We must continue to stay focused on patient care and sustain our commitment to what is most important. So, given all this I have some thoughts that will probably take my blog for the entire week.

  1. I had a wonderful experience late Friday afternoon when I was able to walk with Troy Simon (GMC CEO) through the entire GMC main campus on 16th Street in Greeley (I promise to get to the other locations too!). I was SO impressed. To a person, everyone I met is absolutely committed to providing the best care in the world. They are engaging, fun to be around, professional…and the list could go on. I can see why for the entire time I have been at PVHS we have watched in admiration the care of the largest multi-specialty clinic in the region. To the long-time PVHS employees, I can assure you that you also will be thrilled with the people, the care and the integration of GMC. In fact, I hope you’ll take a moment to connect with someone at GMC who works in a field similar to yours and welcome them and get to know them. You will be impressed.I also hope you’ll take a minute and go to their website and look at all they are and what an honor it is for PVHS to be affiliated with this clinic. The collective of PVHS and GMC is clearly stronger than each respective organization. Plus, many of them have already started giving me a hard time, which is further evidence that they will fit right in.
  2. I was also reminded that the absolute best part of my job is rounding through the organization and meeting people. I love talking to people and getting to know them. I love working at a place where people love to work, and rounding in each department is just fun. Thanks for indulging me.But I am also aware that when I started at PVHS we were one facility with less than a third the number of employees we have now. So when you see me rounding and you think “wow…it has been a while since we saw Rulon here,” you are probably right. We now have more than 5,000 employees in dozens of locations, so while I actually spend more time visiting with people (again, which I love!), I get around to each department less and less often. Kind of sad because there are so many people I would like to see all the time. But when I do get around, it is purely exhilarating.

Okay, enough for today. I have just been thinking so much about this stuff, I thought I would share. See you in a day or two.

Rulon

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