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Show IHC's Caring Magazine 3 5 IN THIS tommm " bMMM Clinical Excellence: How Patients Benefit from Leading-Edge Medicine at 1HC Best Medical Practices: How Physicians at IHC Are Setting New Standards of Medical Excellence We're Proud to Represent You IHC: How Can We Help You? New Facilities for a New Age of Medicine Research at IHC i ii a ii J t ' :r&-Tif n ii ii ii V w n ii ii ii i (IX " " A 21st CENTURY MEDICAL INSTITUTION A MESSAGE FROM IHC'S CHAIRMAN AND CEO Richard 3. Galbraith Chairman William H. Nelson President and CEO Last October, public television televi-sion viewers watched a three-hour special on American health care produced pro-duced by journalist Hedrick Smith. Intermountain Health Care (IHC) was profiled by Smith as an example of an institution leading the advance of medical science. In a national nation-al health care landscape fraught with problems. Smith featured IHC as an example of what's right in U.S. medicine. IHC has earned a reputation as one of the world's leading health care institutions an organization consistently grouped with the likes of Johns Hopkins, Sloan-Kettering. Brigham and Women's Hospital, and the Mayo Clinic. Physicians and other clinicians at IHC are leaders in their fields, and at any given time, dozens of clinical trials are underway at IHC hospitals. Expanding Medical Knowledge And the Search for "Best Practices" Most of us have seen news stories voicing concern about the quality of medical care in the United States. While we still have much to learn in medicine, the biggest concern is raised about situations in which best practice is known but not followed. It turns out that medical care, because of its great complexity and reliance on a large team of human caregivers, care-givers, has been more difficult to subject to the quality control methods that have been so successful in other industries during the last 20 years. IHC is a nationally recognized leader in the study of the processes of care and in the implementation of new processes to more consistently deliver health care according to best practice standards. Sometimes these processes are complex, such as the management of patients with lung disease in our intensive care units. Sometimes they are simpler, such as ensuring that patients leave the hospital with the proper medications needed to most effectively effective-ly manage their illnesses. In all cases, these improved processes have been shown to save lives and improve health. This new medical knowledge benefits patients not only when they're hospitalized; it's also helping people stay well and even improve their health. Whether it's breakthroughs in the treatment of cardiac patients or those with cancer, or new programs to help people with diabetes or asthma, physicians at IHC are working at medicine's leading edge. (See pages 3 to 5.) Medical Excellence and Community Service At IHC, our commitment to medical med-ical excellence is matched by our commitment to community service. ser-vice. We are a charitable, nonprofit non-profit organization that provides care to anyone with a medical need, regardless of ability to pay. Last year, in more than 50,000 cases, IHC provided more than $33 million in free medical care to people unable to pay. Since 1975, our total benefit to the community commu-nity has exceeded $1.5 billion. We work with other agencies to serve those who are economically disadvantaged and under-served medically. We contribute financially finan-cially to community clinics serving the homeless and people with low incomes. In areas that have lacked medical services, we've helped create and support neighborhood health clinics based in elementary schools. Every year, IHC provides grants and mobilizes volunteers for more than a hundred community commu-nity health programs. As a nonprofit health care system, IHC returns ail money it earns to the community in the form of improved facilities, better services, ser-vices, and lower patient charges. We are currently cur-rently investing $1.2 billion to rebuild and update our hospitals. (See page 10.) We are doing this while keeping our charges low and without taxpayer subsidies. To Serve You Better When IHC was created 26 years ago, its founders pledged it would always strive to be a model health care organization. Everyone at IHC has always worked hard to fulfill that promise. Our employees, physician partners, and volunteer trustees are doing their utmost to ensure the health care available here is second to none. Our mission is to provide excellent and affordable afford-able health care in the communities we serve. If we can meet your needs more effectively, please contact one of the volunteer trustees who represent your community (see the lists on pages 6-8) or contact us directly at the address below. Our Address: Intermountain Health Care 36 South State Street Salt Lake City, Utah 84111 Telephone: (801) 442-2836 Internet: http:www.ihc.com Email: dialogihc.com 'Chanty care and community benefits are calculated according to standards established by the Utah State Tax Commission and do not include bad debts. lztum-.iM,ivin!fflii |