New hospital better for all in local hands

Poudre Valley Health System administrators should put more weight on a key argument for building Medical Center of the Rockies, the 136-bed hospital that?s taking shape in Loveland.
It goes like this: ?If we don?t build it, someone else will.?
Concerns have mounted in the past few weeks about the cost of MCR ? still unknown, still dependent upon interest rates yet to be set for bonds that will finance the project.
Two national rating companies have dropped the hospital system?s credit rating, both citing the staggering debt load that PVHS will assume with the $236 million project.
But the same agencies, while downgrading the bonds, point to conditions that offset the debt factor:
? PVHS will expand its Northern Colorado market share with the project, and analysts who set the ratings say PVHS? already-solid cash flow is likely to grow.
? The new hospital is smack dab in the center of one of the nation?s fastest-growing regions and, thus, fastest-growing health care markets.
That is also why, if PVHS had not taken the initiative to build in Loveland, someone else would have done so.
Would it have been better if Hospital Corp. of America (NYSE: HCA) had pushed northward from a Denver base that includes Rose Medical Center, Swedish Hospital and Presbyterian/St. Luke?s Hospital?
Would it have been better if a new Northern Colorado hospital was managed by a corporation that operates 190 hospitals in 23 states and is responsible, first and foremost, to its millions of shareholders nationwide?
We don?t think so.
A non-profit corporation governed by a citizen board that represents the interests of the community is the best possible management system for any new health care facility.
Analysts for the independent bond-rating services, who spent months surveying the local market, said PVHS had little choice but to press ahead with the project. One concluded that PVHS needed to ?protect its service area borders and remain proactive, not reactive, to competitive challenges.?
The cost of building MCR, because of the lowered bond ratings, will likely be higher than PVHS administrators had hoped.
But having the hospital run by a homegrown, non-profit entity that has proven itself in delivering superior care is worth the price.