Sixty million people – roughly one of every five Americans – are grappling with shrinking patient access, rising mortality rates, and closing hospitals. To help address America's healthcare crisis, we're proud to partner with Microsoft, Gates Ventures, Epic, and West Health to form a coalition aimed at reversing the current trajectory of rural healthcare. Formed in late 2023, the coalition identified improving specialty care access, narrowing urban population disparities, strengthening hospitals’ financial stability, and addressing technology infrastructure gaps as areas most likely to make a significant, lasting impact.
It’s a testament to Casey Leavitt’s commitment to her own physical health that she completed an ambitious course of 18 hikes this summer. As executive director of the Musculoskeletal Clinical Program at Intermountain Health, she’s also dedicated her career to the physical health of others. Learn what she’s most proud of in that role (and her favorite hikes).
The first-ever White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research, launched in 2023, allocated nearly $1 billion in funding from a variety of federal agencies to improving women’s health across the country. Last week, the President and First Lady invited a select group of women’s health advocates, clinicians, researchers, experts, investors and philanthropists to the White House to celebrate the program’s success. Intermountain Health’s Audrey Jiricko, MD, was among them. For Dr. Jiricko, it was a reminder that the work she’s led and continues to lead at Intermountain really does make a difference. “Every time I attend a national event like this, I appreciate Intermountain even more,” she said. “We’re doing great research, but we’re also operationalizing those best practices to deliver excellent care to our patients. Our focus on becoming a model health system brings it all together.”
Continuous improvement is everywhere. Just because something works doesn't mean it can't be improved upon further. Intermountain Health's Continuous Improvement team in Nevada aims to foster that mentality in our future healthcare leaders through its internship program with University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV). The CI internship is a non-paid program that selects students mostly from primary health care schools to learn the core continuous improvement concepts (and earn school credits). The internship includes a fundamentals course, certification/training, and project experience. The program accepts three cohorts each year (spring, summer, and fall). Continuous Improvement director Ryan Hicks, MBA and GME program manager Veronica Tomlinson regularly visit UNLV for recruitment. Continuous Improvement consultants Lisa Tarone and Adrina Hines help the interns comprehend continuous improvement's place in healthcare, using the tools and methodologies needed to problem-solve and work together as a team. "Through the internship, they are exposed to current barriers in healthcare leadership and participate in building systems to overcome those barriers. The real life, hands-on experience compliments the lessons they have completed in the classroom," said Lisa. Hear from three former interns, including two current Intermountain employees, on how this program benefited their personal and professional lives.
For the 17th time, Utah Business has recognized Select Health as one of the “Best Companies to Work For!” Thank you to our Select Health caregivers who attended the award ceremony, and a special thank you to all the amazing people who work hard to live the mission and make Select Health an outstanding place to work!
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has designated Intermountain Health in Nevada as a 2024 Million Hearts® Hypertension Control Champion for our efforts to enhance the health of patients by reducing blood pressure in patients with hypertension. This is the first time any health system has earned this distinction in Nevada. “Being recognized as Nevada’s first CDC’s Million Hearts Hypertension Champion is an incredible honor,” said Kristopher Dalton, director of Clinical Quality in Nevada. “This achievement underscores our commitment to improving heart health and demonstrates the impactful work we are doing to manage and prevent hypertension in our community. This was truly a team effort across primary care, specialty care, and administrative caregivers. This success spans all patient lines of business, including Medicare, Medicaid, and Commercial populations. Together, we are making a lasting difference in the lives of so many of our valley’s residents."
Congratulations to JP Valin, chief clinical officer at Intermountain Health, for being named on Becker's Healthcare's list of 180+ chief medical officers to know for 2025! Dr. Valin became chief clinical officer of Intermountain in April 2022 after our merger with SCL Health. In his role, he is focused on driving healthcare transformation to maximize affordability, equity, access and value. He was responsible for integrating clinical functions across the system after the merger, including quality, safety, patient experience, nursing, medical groups and clinical service lines. He also launched a revamp of the physician journey, defining and standardizing recruitment, contracting, onboarding, credentialing, professional development and off-boarding.
Baby deliveries don’t always come on schedule, and in two recent instances, expectant moms didn’t even make it into the hospital in time. However, caregivers at Riverton Hospital in Riverton, Utah and McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden, Utah were unfazed and responded to the parking lot to accomplish safe deliveries.
A couple of years ago, patients needing birth control could wait up to 10 weeks to see an OB/GYN or nurse midwife due to a shortage of appointments and industry-wide access issues. During a tour of the Intermountain Health Home Delivery Pharmacy, Matthew Wells MD, MBA, medical director of women’s health, and chief pharmacy officer Carrie Dunford brainstormed how they could use Intermountain’s Home Delivery model to address this consumer experience and access challenge.
Congratulations to the following 16 Intermountain Health hospitals for being recognized on U.S. News & World Report's list of Best Hospitals for Maternity Care in 2025! American Fork Hospital - American Fork, Utah Cassia Regional Hospital - Burley, Idaho Cedar City Hospital - Cedar City, Utah Holy Rosary Hospital - Miles City, Montana Intermountain Medical Center - Murray, Utah Layton Hospital - Layton, Utah LDS Hospital - Salt Lake City, Utah Logan Regional Hospital - Logan, Utah Lutheran Hospital - Wheat Ridge, Colorado Orem Community Hospital - Orem, Utah Park City Hospital - Park City, Utah Platte Valley Hospital - Brighton, Colorado St. George Regional Hospital - St. George, Utah St. Mary's Regional Hospital - Grand Junction, Colorado St. Vincent Regional Hospital - Billings, Montana Utah Valley Hospital - Provo, Utah To compile the list, U.S. News evaluated 817 hospitals providing labor and delivery services. Hospitals submitted detailed data, which were analyzed based on a variety of quality measures. These measures included C-section rates for lower-risk pregnancies, rates of severe unexpected newborn complications, exclusive breast milk feeding rates, birthing-friendly practices, and the reporting of racial and ethnic disparities.
