Area hospitals bank on health-care needs

Northern Colorado’s two health systems plan to spend a combined $400 million on hospital expansion projects beginning in 2003.

Last week, the board of directors of Greeley’s North Colorado Medical Center voted to solidify relations with Phoenix-based Banner Health Systems rather than collaborate on a regional hospital with Fort Collins-based Poudre Valley Health System.

The decision sparks progress in a previously announced $130 million project to expand and renovate Greeley’s hospital. The plan calls for a 300,000-square-foot, four-story building to be integrated into the west end of the 16th Street campus. The project will add space for surgery suites, including pre- and post-op rooms, and expand the current birth center, intensive care and cardiovascular units. A parking structure is also planned that will hold at least 600 vehicles.

Banner spokesman Gene Haffner said plans will soon be submitted to the city of Greeley to begin the review process, but a timeline for the project won’t be established until the financing process is completed.

In addition to operating NCMC, Banner has managed Loveland’s McKee Medical Center since 1951 and owned it since 1976. In mid-December, Banner announced plans for a $70 million, two-phase expansion for McKee that will add up to 60 beds to the hospital’s current 98-bed capacity.

The first phase is a $40 million project expected to begin in mid to late 2003. Plans include about 100,000 square feet of new space and remodeling of 30,000 to 40,000 square feet.

An attached three-story tower will house additional beds for obstetrics, ICU, telemetry and surgical space.

McKee CEO Charles Harms said the first phase is expected to be completed in 2.5 years, before the second $30 million phase begins. Phase two includes expansion to the emergency department and imaging services. Banner is funding the expansion.

Meanwhile, Poudre Valley Health System in Fort Collins recently unveiled its plans to build a $200 million regional hospital in Loveland.

Expected to be completed in 2006, the 115-bed hospital will focus on specialized services in cardiology, cardiac surgery, neurosurgery and trauma care.

After months of considering various options in Fort Collins, Windsor and Loveland, PVHS selected a 91-acre parcel in the Centerra development at Interstate 25 and U.S. Highway 34. The decision came after the city of Loveland offered an incentive package for the hospital project that includes a 20-year waiver of 25 percent of city taxes, and coincides with McWhinney Enterprises’ plans to develop a hotel and convention center project on a parcel adjacent to the future hospital.

This comes just months after PVHS completed a $40 million renovation of Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, adding patient beds and 62,000 square feet of hospital space. PVHS will have 82 percent ownership of the new facility with 12 percent held by Regional West Medical Center in Scottsbluff, Neb.

Larry Wall, executive director of the Colorado Health and Hospital Association, said competition among hospitals is pervasive throughout much of the state. “Over the years we’ve seen more closures of hospitals in the competitive marketplace. But more recently we’re seeing new hospitals because the population growth is so significant we really have capacity issues.”

Wall said he expects to see more collaboration between institutions in the future. “As the economics of health care have gotten progressively more challenging, it’s raised the specter of additional collaborative efforts.”

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