08
April
2022
|
09:45 AM
America/Denver

Intermountain Healthcare and SCL Health celebrate merger with visit from CEO Marc Harrison

Intermountain SCL Health merger event at Saint Joe's Hospital
Intermountain SCL Health merger event at Saint Joe's Hospital

On April 1, SCL Health merged with Intermountain Healthcare to enhance the care of our patients and to create a nonprofit healthcare model of the future focused on keeping people healthy and providing high-quality, affordable and accessible care.

To celebrate the merger, on Tuesday, April 5, Intermountain Healthcare President and CEO Marc Harrison, MD, traveled from Utah to visit all four SCL Health front range hospitals to share the vision for our combined future. 

Dr. Harrison is a pediatric critical care physician with a track record as a top operations executive worldwide. As CEO of Intermountain Healthcare, his innovations designed to put patients at the center of care make him one of the most sought-after voices in healthcare. 

Dr. Harrison was joined by Lydia Jumonville, president and CEO of SCL Health, charged with leading the integration of the two organizations, and Mark Korth, regional president of Intermountain Healthcare.

The second hospital visited was Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver, where Dr. Harrison had the opportunity to meet caregivers and associates. Afterwards, he took some time to share his thoughts about our organization’s future and expressed gratitude to all caregivers for their incredible commitment to our patients during the past two years of the pandmenic.

“As we start a new chapter today, I want to thank you for not allowing the merger to distract us from our primary mission – taking care of our patients, ourselves and the communities we serve,” Dr. Harrison said.

There was a great deal of buzz and excitement in the air as our new leaders spoke about our future as one Intermountain Healthcare, saying that we will create a model for the future of healthcare in our country that will focus on keeping people healthy, while addressing the causes of illness.

“This is an incredible day for all of us to be able to be here and to kick this off right,” said Mark Korth. “Your presence means a lot. You all are an amazing team at Saint Joe’s. Your culture, vibe, the way you work together, serve the community and honor our heritage doesn’t go unnoticed. We’re here to celebrate a new beginning and to be able to embrace the concept of what we are today as Intermountain Health.”

Dr. Harrison spoke next, saying, “Our reason to be is to help people live the healthiest lives possible, to keep people well, and to have their care be affordable, humane and equitable, and I can’t think of a better place to give this talk than right here at Saint Joe’s. This is your history. We’re really eager for the new system to come together. It’s a huge privilege and pleasure to be introduced as your new president and CEO. I hope that each and every one of you connects on a daily basis to your reason for being, which is to help your neighbors in all kinds of ways. Together we can truly do extraordinary things.” 

He explained how the merger came to be because SCL Health was looking for an opportunity to move into the future with a different footprint and scale and a different set of opportunities, and was very intentional about seeking out and evaluating all possible options. It brought two great, strong, clinically excellent community leading groups together and formed it into one. 

“I am really excited to be a part of this community,” he said. “I’m here to listen and learn because together great things can be done. Together we will set the standard for population health and value. Together we will set the standard for what rural healthcare should look like in the United States. Together we will set the standard for what dignity for our neighbors looks like, while stamping out inequity and disparity. It’s a privilege for me personally and I hope for all of you to be part of that journey.”

“What an exciting and historic day this is!” said Lydia Jumonville. “It’s one we’ve been looking forward to and working very hard to get to for many months now. I’m personally and professionally very excited to see the great things we’re going to do together at Intermountain Healthcare. Thank you to each of the 60,000 caregivers that make up Intermountain. You all have been through two of the toughest years in healthcare that any of us can remember. The great thing for me, Marc and the rest of our leadership team is that we could focus on the merger and look forward to the future because we knew you were taking care of all of our patients and our communities and that you wouldn’t miss a beat. We are so indebted to you and incredibly grateful.”

The event concluded with a crowd of more than 100 people launching confetti cannons into the air to celebrate our new beginning.