HomeMy WebLinkAboutBANNER HEALTH MEDICAL CAMPUS - PDP - PDP130003 - CORRESPONDENCE - CITIZEN COMMUNICATIONThank you for the opportunity to comment on this proposal,
Erick Larson
Jason Holland
From: ERICK LARSON <emlarson05@msn.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 09, 2013 1:15 PM
To: Jason Holland
Subject: Plan # PDP130003
Jason,
I will not be able to attend the zoning committee meeting on April 18th re: the Banner Health
Medical Campus Project Development Plan. The following are my comments about the plan.
I am not opposed to the medical office buildings and clinics that are proposed in this plan. If
Banner believes they have a better product then they should be able to provide their services in
this outpatient setting. This will, hopefully, benefit people who go there without a direct effect on
those who are not part of their organization.
I am opposed to the building of a hospital, including an emergency room. This will effect
everyone in the community through higher health care costs.
As you know Emergency room care is one of the most expensive means of providing health care
to individuals. We already have 3 hospitals providing emergency room care within a 15 mile
radius. We do not need another one. The costs of establishing and maintaining this level of care
does nothing but increase our overall health care costs. A better alternative would be to have an
Urgent care center for their members.
We currently have 3 hospitals within a 30 minutes of each other. None of them operate, on
average, at full capacity. PVH has an average occupancy around 75%, MCR is higher at
approximately 85% and McKee averages around 45% occupancy. National studies, as well as
Banner's own studies, indicate that occupancy rates of hospitals will continue to go down due in
part to technology and improved preventive care. Banner boasts that their outpatient services
stress early preventive care, which will keep hospital occupancy low. Would it not be more cost
effective to contract beds from the existing hospitals and be a win / win for both
organizations? Has their been any attempt to coordinate services?
The proposed size of the hospital has to be inefficient. How can they support staffing nursing 24
hours 7 days a week along with the therapies, pharmacy, dietary, housekeeping and
administration in a cost effective manner? There is an efficiency of size in hospitals. Again, the
costs are paid for by us through higher medical premiums.
I realize that Colorado does not have a Certificate of Need requirement for the building of
hospitals. If there was such a requirement, this hospital would not be built as currently planned.
realize that they meet all of the zoning requirements for this location. It is the same as if they
were building a hotel. Therefore, the zoning committee has no choice but to hold their noses and
approve this application.