Congratulations to Nannette Berensen, our chief operating officer, for being named to Becker's Healthcare's 118 COOs to know list for 2024! 🎉 In her role as chief operating officer, Nannette is focused on enhancing clinical care and overseeing operations across the system. Previous roles include director of pharmacy services for Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah, as well as vice president and chief operating officer of clinical shared services. During her tenure with us, she has created and launched the clinical shared services model across 13 clinical service lines and modernized the biorepository.
Six years ago, the Pavilion CT machine at St. Mary’s Regional Hospital in Grand Junction, Colorado was cranking through 1,200 exams per quarter. Last quarter it was 2,000. Demand for imaging is up, and especially for patients in rural areas like Grand Junction, access can be a struggle. That means Imaging Services has needed to do more with less – and they’re crushing it. Find out how.
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.
