Poudre Valley Health System and University of Colorado Hospital combine best in community care and academic medicine

Poudre Valley Health System (PVHS) and the University of Colorado Hospital (UCH) finalized a joint operating agreement in early 2012 that creates a health system its leaders say will widen health care services and provide unparalleled patient care in the Rocky Mountain region.

Called University of Colorado Health, the new system combines one of the top-performing community health systems in the nation with the highest-ranked academic medical center in quality in the country. With annual net revenue of $1.5 billion, it will be one of the region's largest locally-owned health systems and, with nearly 10,000 employees, one of Colorado's largest employers.

Top-performing partners

University of Colorado Hospital was named the top-performing academic hospital in quality in America in September 2011 by University HealthSystem Consortium and is currently ranked the No. 1 hospital in the metro Denver area by US News & World Report.

Poudre Valley Health System in January 2012 was named one of the top 15 health systems in the United States by Thomson Reuters and is a recipient of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation's highest presidential honor for quality. PVHS and UCH are both three-time Magnet designation winners, the gold standard for nursing care.

While combining the best in academic medicine with the best in community medicine, the new organization's logo combines the University of Colorado name with the four intertwined hearts long associated with Poudre Valley Health System. Names of the organization's three existing hospitals - University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora, Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins and Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland - will not change.

Historic roles continue

University of Colorado Health will continue UCH's historic role of providing advanced and complex care at the Anschutz Medical Campus headquarters and of offering specialty and family care throughout the metropolitan area. Poudre Valley Health System has two acute care hospitals in Poudre Valley Hospital and Medical Center of the Rockies, as well as a wide network of primary care and specialty clinics in northern Colorado, southern Wyoming and western Nebraska.

UCH will continue its close relationship with the University of Colorado School of Medicine - all its attending physicians are on the medical school's faculty - and help extend the medical school's research and residency programs through the new system to the entire region. In addition, UCH's close collaboration with the other health sciences schools on the Anschutz Medical Campus will continue.

The organization will be governed by a board of 11 directors and an executive team.

Bruce Schroffel is the CEO of University of Colorado Health; Rulon Stacey is the president of University of Colorado Health.

University of Colorado Health employees dedicate themselves to providing patients and other customers with world-class care and service. Outside organizations recognize that, calling University of Colorado Health's hospitals some of the best in Colorado and even the best in the nation. Some of those accolades are listed below:

University of Colorado Health
Fort Collins, Colorado
970.495.7000
PVHS@pvhs.org