Montrose Regional Health and Community Hospital in Grand Junction have signed a letter of intent to explore forming a new nonprofit entity aimed at strengthening community-based health care across western Colorado and eastern Utah.
Montrose Regional Health announced the exploratory partnership Monday via a press release, describing it as a collaboration designed to improve efficiency and coordination between the two hospitals while allowing each organization to remain independent.
If the partnership moves forward, the hospitals would create a new tax-exempt nonprofit organization focused on collaboration in nonclinical areas such as information technology alignment, group purchasing, long-term planning and revenue cycle operations.
Those efforts could allow the hospitals to share resources and achieve economies of scale in a rapidly changing health care landscape.
“Community Hospital and MRH both share a deep commitment to our communities, treating our patients like we would our own families,” said Jeff Mengenhausen, CEO of Montrose Regional Health. “We are excited about how this collaboration would strengthen this commitment, championing a competitive health care landscape while increasing access and affordability for providers, patients, and communities.”
The proposal is not a merger, according to MRH, and both hospitals would remain independent organizations with their own governing boards, leadership teams, medical staff, employees, finances and facilities.
The collaboration could act “like a moat” around the organizations, allowing them to strengthen services and operations so that larger systems are less likely to absorb them, Katie Klossner, director of marketing and public relations for MRH, said in a call with the MBT on Monday.
The proposed structure would also include a joint governing board made up of representatives from both hospitals to oversee the collaborative entity while leaving the individual hospitals under their existing leadership and boards.
“Community Hospital and MRH have proudly offered compassionate, high-quality health care services to our region for generations,” said Chris Thomas, president and CEO of Community Hospital. “The people we serve remain our top priority and are a key reason we are exploring this partnership. This potential collaboration would stimulate economic growth and strengthen health care opportunities for our community, improving quality and choice for patients and employees alike.”
The letter of intent is just the beginning of an exploratory process, and no final agreement has been reached, MRH said in its release.
Discussions will continue in the coming months.
