Analysis of a Healthcare System:

Poudre Valley Health System

Analysis of Poudre Valley Health System
The Poudre Valley Hospital is locally owned, independent, not-for-profit organization, located in Fort
Collins, Colorado. Larimer County Hospital, Poudre Valley Hospitals original name, was built in
1925 to serve the citizens of Northern Colorado. It began as a small, 40-bed medical hospital
surrounded by farmland. Over time it has expanded. It has grown into a system of hospitals and
clinics. The most recent addition to the Poudre Valley Health System was the Medical Center of the
Rockies that opened in 2009. PVHS is a leader in providing high quality healthcare to not only
Colorado, but citizens of Wyoming and Nebraska as well. The focus of this analysis will be the
original Poudre Valley Hospital and the greater Poudre Valley Healthcare System (PVHS).
Providing high quality healthcare is the foundation of Poudre Valley Healthcare Systems mission. A
healthcare systems mission states its purpose and what it wishes to accomplish for its customers. It
tells the public what it does, why it exists and who it exists for. The PVHS mission serves all its
facilities and is stated as such; Our mission is to provide innovative, high quality, comprehensive
care that exceeds customer expectations. Taking care of patients is why Poudre Valley Health
System exists. Taking great care of patients is why Poudre Valley Health System excels (Poudre
valley health, 2009). PVHS exists for patients, to take care of patients and aims to provide its
patients with the highest quality care. High quality care is also mirrored in PVHSs vision.
An organizations vision states what it plans to do for the future. PVHSs vision is to provide world
class healthcare to the populations it serves (Poudre valley health, 2009). World class healthcare
means that it will utilize the most current and innovative technology and evidenced-based protocols
when caring for its patients. PVHSs values also play a role in the way it cares for the people that
seek care in its hospitals and associated clinics.
While pursuing its mission and vision, PVHS abides by several core values. These values include;
quality, compassion, confidentiality, dignity, respect, equality and integrity (Poudre valley health,
2009). These values are essential to a healthcare organization that aims to provide the high quality,
comprehensive care its patients.
The PVHSs mission and vision demands excellence. There is evidence of theory-in-action in the
multiple awards PVHS has won for excellence in patient care and patient outcomes. Poudre Valley
Hospital received a Five Star Inpatient Care Award which reflects the highest score for inpatient
satisfaction survey results in Avatar International Inc.'s national data base. PVHS received an
Innovation Award in 2009 (Poudre valley health, 2009). Theory-in-action is also demonstrated in
the quality awards the organization has won. In 2008, PVHS received the Malcolm Baldrige National
Quality Award which is the highest presidential honor given to the United States businesses that
demonstrates the highest excellence in performance outcomes. PVHS has won the Colorado Peak
Performance award twice. This award is given to the organization with the highest performance
excellence (Poudre valley health, 2009). The espoused theory is difficult to see in this organization
as it also has excellent Press Ganey and other patient satisfaction scores as well as employee
satisfaction evidenced by PVHSs Magnet recognition (Poudre valley health, 2009). While Magnet
involves only nursing satisfaction, nurses make up the majority of the organization. It appears that
from the multiple awards that PVHS has won over the years for quality, innovation and performance
in patient care outcomes that is lives up to its mission, vision and values.
As aforementioned, PVHS is an independent, not-for-profit organization. This means that it serves
the community around it by reinvesting its net earnings to improve its services and facilities. PVHS
earns a profit to benefit its patients, not shareholders, as PVHS does not have shareholders who
own it. It is also an independent organization. PVHS does not receive local property tax revenue
from residents in the area it serves.
PVHS serves a wide variety of patients with both chronic and acute illness. Therefore, it takes
patients who have private insurance and those with Medicare or Medicaid. At Poudre Valley
Hospital we have a lot of chronic illness patients so we see a lot of patients with Medicare and
Medicaid. Medical Center of the Rockies is the trauma hospital in the area and it also does a lot of
specialty work therefore they see more patients with private insurance and some with no insurance.
Due to this mix, we have actually come out on top this year in regards to profit (R. Detlefsen,
personal communication, June 6, 2010). Poudre Valley Hospital is also close to several primary care
clinics so that many of the chronic illness patients can have continuity of care. If there physicians
need to admit them, they can also follow them in house since its one system (R. Detlefsen, personal
communication, June 6, 2010). Since Poudre Valley Hospital is part of a larger, connected private
system, it has a diverse group of leaders.
PVHS requires diverse expertise from its leadership as it governs a wide array of inpatient and
outpatient settings. Every organization has a unique structure to its leadership in order to best serve
its needs. Many private hospitals have what is called a professional bureaucracy structure and
PVHS is no different. The professional bureaucracy structure has an operating core of professionals
such as physicians and nurses with a strong support staff (Fiorelli, 2010). The leadership at PVHS
consists of a Board of Directors, physician leadership and a senior management group. In the senior
management group there are multiple Vide Presidents of different departments. Examples include;
ambulatory services, nursing, human resources and medicine. Below the aforementioned leadership
are nurse leaders. Each unit in Poudre Valley hospital has a Nurse supervisor as well as a Clinical
Nurse Specialist. There are also leaders over other departments, managers, in for example dietary,
housekeeping and lab. The Mintzberg diagram that demonstrates this is shown below (Fiorelli,
2010).