July 27, 2012

Health Care

The major players in the Northern Colorado health care industry have big plans for the future, however uncertain they may be of what that future will bring.

While the health care debate marches on at the national level, Supreme Court rulings notwithstanding, the two health care systems at work in Northern Colorado, Banner Health and University of Colorado Health, are expanding, partnering with other organizations and trying to improve standards of care.

Health insurance behemoth Kaiser Permanente is in the process of executing plans that will bring it officially to Northern Colorado by October, and has partnered with Banner Health to provide hospital services to its patients. Banner is also in the process of extending its emergency services, both through the construction of an emergency center expansion and through a partnership with Weld County that made Banner Health the ambulance services provider for the whole county.

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University of Colorado Health is a new name to most, but Poudre Valley Health System is not. PVHS entered a joint operating agreement with Denver-based University of Colorado Hospital earlier this year, and together the two entities formed University of Colorado Health.

UCH was at mid-year making a play for Memorial Health System in Colorado Springs, offering the City of Colorado Springs $1.79 billion over 40 years to lease the city-owned hospital. The City Council in Colorado Springs approved the bid, but voters get the final say in August.

Meanwhile, both health care systems, as well as independent physicians like those at Associates in Family Medicine, are trying to improve the quality of care offered at their facilities and attempting to prepare for changes coming to health care as a result of the Affordable Care Act.

One change in particular that has caught everyone’s attention: hospitals will not receive payment for a patient who is readmitted within 30 days for the same condition for which that patient was initially admitted. This change has prompted providers to make sure they thoroughly educate patients about how to take care of themselves after they leave the hospital.

Preventive care is also an important issue for providers, who are launching campaigns to promote active lifestyles, healthy diets, smoking cessation and other elements of wellness to keep patients out of the hospital in the first place.

The major players in the Northern Colorado health care industry have big plans for the future, however uncertain they may be of what that future will bring.

While the health care debate marches on at the national level, Supreme Court rulings notwithstanding, the two health care systems at work in Northern Colorado, Banner Health and University of Colorado Health, are expanding, partnering with other organizations and trying to improve standards of care.

Health insurance behemoth Kaiser Permanente is in the process of executing plans that will bring it officially to Northern Colorado by October, and has partnered with Banner Health to provide…

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