Intermountain Healthcare

Intermountain Healthcare, formerly known as Intermountain Health Care (IHC), is a not-for-profit healthcare system and is the largest health care provider in the Intermountain West. Intermountain Healthcare provides hospital and other medical services in Utah, and Idaho. Intermountain Healthcare is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, and currently employs over 25,000 people.

History
Intermountain Healthcare was founded on April 1, 1975. Prior to Intermountain, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints operated many of the hospitals in the region. The church decided in 1974 it would no longer operate the hospitals and decided it would donate its fifteen hospitals as a system to the Intermountain community. The church did this on the condition that a not-for-profit organization would be formed to operate the hospitals on behalf of the communities they served.

Since its inception, board members of Intermountain Healthcare have been unpaid volunteers. Raising funds was done through the bond market and within just a few years, several additional hospitals asked to join the Intermountain organization. Intermountain's hospital market share (about 45 percent of Utah's hospital beds) has remained consistent since the organization was formed.

In 1982, Intermountain Healthcare began providing non-hospital services such as clinics and home healthcare. Four additional hospitals were added from 1982 to 1990. In 1991, Intermountain was recipient of The Healthcare Forum/Witt award.

In the mid 1990's, Intermountain Healthcare restructured into three major groups: hospitals, physicians, and IHC health plans.

In 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005, Intermountain Healthcare was ranked No. 1 (among nearly 600 evaluated) integrated healthcare systems in the U.S. by Modern Healthcare magazine and the Verispan research firm. The rankings measured efficiency, communication cost and quailty of care. Intermountain is the only organization to have been ranked No. 1 five times. Intermountain has been named the No. 2 integrated health system in the country in 2001, 2006 and 2007. Intermountain has also received several other awards for the organization's pioneering use of electronic medical records and evidence-based medical care guidelines.

In 2002, Intermountain served as the Medical Services Provider for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

In November 2005, Intermountain implemented a new logo and slightly changed the spelling of its name from Intermountain Health Care to Intermountain Healthcare. The purpose was to reflect today's more common spelling of "healthcare". Up until this time, Intermountain was well known as "IHC". In April of 2006, Intermountain renamed their health insurance plan "SelectHealth" and formalized the separate management of the insurance side of the organization. The move helped to appease some critics who complained about the difficulty of competing against an organization that offered insurance, hospitals, and clinics through one system.

Intermountain has sometimes been subject to review by the Utah state legislature because of the hospital organization's nonprofit mission and because they own 20 of Utah's 60 hospitals. This was intensified for a brief period in 2005 when Intermountain Healthcare attempted to require patients to agree to arbitration, essentially waiving the patient's right to sue&mdash;a practice that was abandoned under strong public pressure. Proposals by competitors to force Intermountain to sell off either the insurance or hospital components of the organization have been fruitless.

In 2005 the Utah state legislature hired an outside research company to review Utah's healthcare marketplace. While the independent experts did not address all of the challenges facing Utah's healthcare industry, the researchers did conclude that "considerable evidence exists to support the conclusion that Utah's health-care markets are performing competitively. . . Intervention by the Utah Legislature to promote competition in these markets is not necessary." The six month study that costs taxpayers $300,000 recommended that the Utah legislature refrain from creating more regulations for Utah's healthcare marketplace stating, "Competitive markets are more likely to be harmed than helped by regulatory directives."

Today, Intermountain Healthcare operates 20 hospitals in Utah, and 1 hospital in Idaho. Intermountain also operates clinics, and urgent care facilities that are run by physicians as part of the Intermountain Medical Group. In total, Intermountain Healthcare operates over 120 healthcare facilities, employs 600 of Utah's 4,000 physicians and provides insurance to about 19 percent of Utahns.

Hospitals
As of 2005, Intermountain Healthcare operates 20 hospitals in Utah and Idaho.


 * Alta View Hospital - Sandy, Utah - 80 beds
 * American Fork Hospital - American Fork, Utah - 76 beds
 * Bear River Valley Hospital - Tremonton, Utah - 20 beds
 * Cassia Regional Medical Center - Burley, Idaho - 40 beds
 * Cottonwood Hospital - Murray, Utah - 227 beds
 * Delta Community Medical Center - Delta, Utah - 20 beds
 * Dixie Regional Medical Center - St. George, Utah - 196 beds
 * Fillmore Community Medical Center - Fillmore, Utah - 20 beds
 * Garfield Memorial Hospital - Panguitch, Utah - 14 beds
 * Heber Valley Medical Center - Heber, Utah - 20 beds
 * LDS Hospital - Salt Lake City, Utah - 520 beds - Level I trauma center, currently the largest hospital in the Intermountain Region.
 * Logan Regional Hospital - Logan, Utah - 148 beds - Level III trauma center
 * McKay-Dee Hospital Center - Ogden, Utah - 317 beds - Level II trauma center
 * Orem Community Hospital - Orem, Utah - 20 beds
 * Primary Children's Medical Center - Salt Lake City, Utah - 232 beds - Level I trauma center, pediatric center serving Utah, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Wyoming.
 * Sanpete Valley Hospital - Mount Pleasant, Utah - 20 beds
 * Sevier Valley Hospital - Richfield, Utah - 42 beds
 * The Orothopedic Specialty Hospital (TOSH) - Murray, Utah - 14 beds
 * Utah Valley Regional Medical Center - Provo, Utah - 395 beds - Level II trauma center
 * Valley View Medical Center - Cedar City, Utah - 42 beds

Intermountain Healthcare is also currently building two new hospitals. Intermountain Medical Center, currently under construction, will be located on a 100 acre site in the center of the Salt Lake Valley in Murray, Utah. It will be Intermountain's flagship and will be the largest medical campus in the Intermountain West. It will replace Cottonwood Hospital, though Intermountain's Orthopedic Specialty Hospital will conitue to operate at the Cottonwood location. It will feature a Level I trauma center, a 15-story inpatient, critical care-Level I trauma hospital, a heart and lung hospital for advanced cardiac and respiratory care, women's and newborn hospital, cancer treatment hospital, medical education and research facilities, and physician offices. It will also be the home base for Intermountain's Life Flight. The entire project is estimated at approximately $360 million.

Summit County Hospital will be located in Park City, Utah. It will be a 100,000 square foot facility with 26 beds and will also feature a women's center, surgical center, orthopedic center, and emergency center. The entire project is estimated at approximately $50-60 million and is expected to be completed in 2007.

Life Flight
Life Flight, Intermountain Healthcare's medevac unit, consists of four helicopters and three fixed wing aircraft. Life Flight provides emergency air transportation as well as non emergency transport for victims particularly in remote areas, as well as emergency scenes where time is critical. In addition to transport, Life Flight also provides search-and-rescue to the region.

Intermountain currently operates two Agusta A109K2 helicopters and two Bell 407's. The helicopters are based at McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden, Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo, LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, and Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City.

Life Flight also operates three Beechcraft B200 King Airs. Two are based at Salt Lake City International Airport, and one is based at St. George Municipal Airport.