Investment losses and higher staffing and supply costs are all contributing, but one expert cautions to look at the long-term picture
Centura Health
Posted inHealth, News, Wildfire
Avista hospital closed for foreseeable future after oxygen tanks had a near miss with Marshall fire
Avista Adventist Hospital in Louisville narrowly avoided a “catastrophic explosion” Thursday afternoon when flames from the Marshall fire came within 4 feet of flammable oxygen tanks on the hospital’s west side, hospital officials said. Facilities staff fought back the flames with hoses, said Lindsay Radford, a spokeswoman for Centura Health, the network that includes Avista. […]
Posted inCOVID, Health, News
Why Colorado’s hospitals have bent — but not broken — during the latest COVID surge
Nearly 19 months in, these are some of the toughest days for Colorado hospitals during the coronavirus pandemic. Even as the latest surge in coronavirus hospitalizations appears to have plateaued — what state epidemiologist Dr. Rachel Herlihy this week called an “unstable equilibrium” — hospitals across Colorado have still been scrambling to add critical-care beds […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: A vaccine mandate is not the right approach for Centura Health, for now
From the first confirmed COVID-19 case in Colorado on March 5, 2020, at Centura’s St. Anthony Summit Hospital in Frisco, our 21,000 incredible caregivers have made tremendous personal and professional sacrifices to be there when our communities needed us most. Our team has worked diligently, and nonstop, over the last 18 months, through the many […]
Posted inCOVID, Health, News
Staff at five Colorado hospitals will have to get vaccinated against coronavirus. What about all the rest?
Update on July 28, 2021: Two more hospital systems, UCHealth and Denver Health, have announced they will require employees to be vaccinated by the fall. This brings the total number of hospitals with vaccine mandates to nearly 20. Employees at five Colorado hospitals will be required to get vaccinated against the coronavirus by this fall, […]
Posted inBusiness, Health, News
A Colorado hospital charged $722.50 to push medicine through an IV. Twice.
By Rae Ellen Bichell, Kaiser Health News Claire Lang-Ree was in a lab coat taking a college chemistry class remotely in the kitchen of her home in Colorado Springs, when a profound pain twisted into her lower abdomen. She called her mom, Jen Lang-Ree, a nurse practitioner who worried it was appendicitis and found a nearby […]
Posted inBusiness, Health, News
New Centennial Hospital fills southeast Denver gap, while other areas wait for specialty care
The opening of a new southeastern metro hospital, Centennial, by the for-profit HCA chain this month underscores where medical centers get built in the area — and where they don’t. HCA subsidiary HealthONE’s launch of 20-bed Centennial in a fast-growth area near Arapahoe and South Parker roads echoes the pattern set by other recent hospital […]
Posted inBusiness, Health, News, Politics and Government
Colorado hospitals’ profit margins are nation’s highest as state lawmakers move to cap health care costs
Colorado hospitals charge more, have higher costs and still report higher profit margins than any other state, according to a financial analysis of federal data presented Wednesday to the Colorado Business Group on Health. Both for-profit and nonprofit hospitals in Colorado have made “strategic decisions to maximize revenue and profit,” in large part by consolidating […]
Posted inBusiness, Economy, Education, News
Colorado needs more skilled workers. But the state provides little help to adults trying to earn a college degree.
By Jason Gonzales, Chalkbeat Colorado Victoria Browning felt trapped. To support her two young children, she worked full time caring for elderly people, earning $14 an hour. Every week was a struggle. So she enrolled at Concorde Career College Aurora Campus to get a shot at a better-paying job. Instead, she ended up with thousands […]
Posted inCOVID, Education, Health, News
Some school staff are eligible for coronavirus vaccine in Colorado right now, but not teachers
Teachers cannot yet get the COVID-19 vaccine in Colorado, but some school staff can. School nurses, health technicians who assist them, occupational and physical therapists, speech-language pathologists, campus security guards, and educators who work with children with serious disabilities are among those whose names have been submitted by school districts in the Denver metro area […]