Intermountain Medical Center Turns One; Hospital Is Thriving

Murray, Utah (10/29/08) – Intermountain Medical Center turns one today and hospital staff and the center’s first patients plan on celebrating in style.

Several of the hospital’s very first patients – including the hospital’s first heart transplant patient and a set of one-year-old premature triplets who were flown to the hospital minutes after Intermountain Medical Center opened – will join with doctors, nurses and other hospital staff in commemorating the medical center’s first year of service. Birthday cake will be served and medical items will be placed in a time capsule during a birthday ceremony in the lobby of the hospital’s main patient tower at 10:15 am.

Over 259,171 patients have been treated at Intermountain Medical Center — Utah’s newest and most technologically advanced hospital — since it opened on October 29, 2007, and they say they’re getting high-quality care, they love the hospital, and they appreciate its caring people. Intermountain Medical Center is one of two Level I adult trauma centers serving residents of Utah.

Some statistics from the hospital’s first year:

• 6,500 babies have been born there – more than any other hospital in the state
• Over 75,000 patients have been cared for in its ER
• Over 525,368 outpatient procedures have been provided, which includes procedures ranging from X-rays to MRI procedures to orthopedic or cardiovascular repairs
• Over 23,700 patients have undergone inpatient surgeries
• Over 107 patients have received a transplant in one of the hospital’s transplant programs, which include kidneys, pancreases, livers, hearts, and artificial hearts
• Thousands of patients with little or no insurance have received $19.7 million worth of charity care, which Intermountain Healthcare facilities provide to people with medical needs who are unable to pay for care. That’s an average of $54,000 worth of charity care per day.
• Over 16,535 procedures have been provided on a charitable basis
• 542,745 meals have been served to patients
• 1,038,803 meals have been served to visitors and employees
• 5,112 employees work there
• 1,016 physicians are on staff

“We’re busy, our clinical outcomes are excellent, and our patients love being here,” says David Grauer, Intermountain Medical Center’s administrator. “The key to our success in our first year isn’t the number of people we’ve treated — it’s the way we’ve treated them. We’ve had a phenomenally successful year.

“We worked through some of the growing pains that are always part of opening a new facility — from day one, our people have been terrific in helping us adjust to the new building, and we’re already starting to grow to help us handle the high volumes of patients we’re seeing.”

An overview of the hospital. Intermountain Medical Center is one of the most technologically advanced hospitals in America — and one of the most patient-friendly.

Four factors make Intermountain Medical Center unique:

1. Intermountain Medical Center isn’t one big hospital; it’s five smaller hospitals.

The hospital’s five centers of excellence include women’s/newborn care, heart/lung care, emergency/trauma care, outpatient care, and cancer care. Each center functions like a stand-alone hospital: Patients come to one place for care and receive diagnostic help, therapy, and follow-up (often from physician specialists) in the same building.

2. Intermountain Medical Center is filled with the latest technology.

Many services are unique to the West (or the United States) including a gamma knife, a da Vinci robot, and diagnostic technologies including linear accelerators, MRI scanners, PET/CT technology, etc.

It houses six ICUs and an active transplant program, including a mechanical/artificial heart program that implants total or partial mechanical hearts in patients who suffer from heart failure.
Its medical and clinical staff is involved in numerous research studies to improve care processes and outcomes.

3. Intermountain Medical Center has a unique healing environment.

Natural elements — gardens, fountains, a labyrinth, spectacular views of the mountains, a walking path, building materials — and family alcoves, meditation rooms, and a chapel are specifically designed to enhance the process of healing.

4. Intermountain Medical Center is patient-centered, not staff-centered.

Processes and facilities are designed to enhance privacy, family access, overnight family stays, space between staff and patient/family areas, and patient access to all of the components that enhance healing (clinical, research, emotional, nutritional, informational, financial, etc.).

The 428-bed hospital is the flagship of Intermountain Healthcare’s 21-hospital network and serves as a major referral center for six states and more than 75 regional healthcare institutions.