University of Colorado

A Message from the President

December 2011

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University of Colorado Hospital bids to operate Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs

The University of Colorado Hospital (UCH) is leading a partnership group that was unanimously selected for consideration to operate Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs, which is now run by the city. The Memorial System Task Force, after considering bids from five health systems, forwarded the UCH bid to the Colorado Springs City Council on Monday as the consensus choice. The council will consider it in the coming weeks before determining next steps.

The UCH partnership includes the CU School of Medicine, Children's Hospital Colorado and the Poudre Valley Health System, which has been in discussions with UCH in recent months regarding an affiliation agreement.

We believe that the UCH proposal will transform health care in the Pikes Peak region and significantly enhance our mission in medical education. It will build on Memorial's heritage and hold patient and family-centered care as its highest priority. Additionally, it will expand Memorial's and UCH's long-standing commitment to providing health care to members of the military and their families, as well as the underserved and uninsured. It will also build on our track record of economic growth, development and job creation.

The UCH proposal includes establishing a branch of the University of Colorado School of Medicine at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, which CU School of Medicine officials have been exploring for nearly two years. An alliance would provide necessary funding and speed that process along, School of Medicine Dean Dick Krugman said. He told a community forum in Colorado Springs recently that the branch campus could be operating within two years.

CU is no stranger to creating successful partnerships in Colorado Springs that meet community needs and advance our educational and health care missions. In 1997, the city's voters approved a proposal to merge the Beth-El College of Nursing (previously operated by the city) with our Colorado Springs campus. Today, Beth-El is a lynchpin of nursing education in southern Colorado that has graduated more than 2,000 health care providers since our partnership started.

We believe an alliance with Memorial will be similarly successful and will have substantial benefits to the community, state and university.

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