There are many benefits to living in a remote rural area, but having access to cutting-edge medical care is not one of them. But not too long ago for Montrose Memorial Hospital, located in the mountainous regions of Montrose, Colo., the only service it had in oncology was chemotherapy. The program was a huge success, but, unfortunately, it was just a portion of the treatment most cancer patients required.

Ken Platou, CEO

“Patients and families that I heard from routinely said they liked the treatment they were getting at St. Mary’s in terms of its radiation program, but they hated the drive,” said Ken Platou, CEO.

Around the corner
Platou felt that sending sick patients up and down the highway five times a week for six to eight weeks was unacceptable. “That’s a huge burden for patients,” he said. “It’s tough mentally and physically to be ill and have to endure the additional stress, fatigue, and expense of travel.”

Rather than creating a radiation therapy program at Montrose Memorial and competing, Platou approached St. Mary’s with the idea of opening up a collaborative cancer facility closer to Montrose. “It didn’t make sense to me to compete if it already had an outstanding program,” said the chief executive. “I wanted to see if we could bring it here, and to my surprise, St. Mary’s thought it was a great idea.”

Historically, Montrose Memorial Hospital and St. Mary’s have been competitors. Both organizations and the provider physicians saw this joint endeavor as an opportunity to put that history behind them and work together for the benefit of the communities and patients they serve.

The facility, San Juan Cancer Center, was turned into a three-way partnership between radiation oncologists, St. Mary’s Hospital, and Montrose Memorial Hospital. With the facility only two blocks away from Montrose Memorial Hospital, Platou said community members have been extremely appreciative of the new facility in which they raised nearly $1 million through fundraising efforts of the San Juan Healthcare Foundation.

It’s been a win-win situation for both hospitals. In addition to its already successful program in Grand Junction, St. Mary’s has one-third ownership in a new treatment regiment that benefits its surrounding communities. “This isn’t just a Montrose program; it’s a preferred alternative for the whole region,” Platou explained. “It’s extremely gratifying for both parties because several patients said they would not have gotten treatment if they had to drive all the way to Grand Junction—the burden was so great that they would have foregone treatment.”

The San Juan Cancer Center has been nothing short of a huge success. Since opening in May, its volumes are overwhelmingly surpassing yearly projections. “Its success has surprised all of us,” Platou said.

Meeting the demand
Southwestern Colorado’s population is growing, and that poses a challenge for Montrose Memorial. It’s the 18th fastest-growing community in the country, growing at about 3% to 4% each year. From 1990 to 2000, the community has grown 33%, and experts are predicting that to rise to 36% between 2000 and 2010, which Platou said looks like a rather conservative estimate. “Over a 20-year period, that’s more than 60% growth, and that is dramatic,” he said. “We’re riding that same wave here in the healthcare business.”

As the increase of patients place more demands on the hospital, Montrose is bringing in new physicians and has recruited about 35 in the last five years. It has also built a four-story tower, which opened this year and added an extra 92,000 square feet in the front of the hospital complex. “Our square footage was about 130,000 square feet before this addition, so we just about doubled the size of the campus,” Platou said.

To keep all staff members comfortable during this period of growth, Platou encourages all employees to establish their own atmosphere. Department directors were asked to rewrite and re-evaluate Montrose’s mission and value statements.

“They spent a lot of time working on it,” Platou said. “When they were finished, they brought the draft to the board of trustees for approval, and the board didn’t change a single word—they approved it just how it was presented. They have ownership over the mission because it was built by them rather than the board handing something down to them they didn’t agree with in the first place.”
Department directors are also involved in the hospital’s annual strategic planning retreat.

The directors meet routinely, and new ideas are taken to senior leadership to review and implement, which in turn are discussed in full during monthly meetings. “Every department director is involved, and they take what they accomplish back to their individual departments and do whatever is necessary to keep their staff directly involved and informed,” said the chief executive.

One of the unique things that attracted Platou to Montrose Memorial is the commitment the medical staff has to ongoing education. Physicians have a conference every Wednesday morning to discuss tough cases and get feedback. “It’s a dynamic, ongoing commitment to education. I’ve never seen this anywhere in the country,” Platou said.

Every Friday, the physicians also have an outside speaker come in and talk about new treatment techniques and pharmaceuticals. “It’s unusual because most hospital physicians get together once a month—that’s considered the norm. This commitment to excellence and ongoing education at a medical staff level permeates throughout the hospital,” Platou concluded.