Kaiser Permanente and CommonSpirit Health Announce New Strategic Relationship in Colorado

DENVER, Sept. 10, 2024  /PRNewswire/ -- Kaiser Permanente and CommonSpirit Health have expanded their relationship under a new long-term agreement in Colorado. This collaboration will offer Kaiser Permanente's current and future members greater close-to-home convenience and access to more of Metro Denver's leading hospitals and providers. This unique arrangement will include integrating Kaiser Permanente physicians and employees into CommonSpirit hospitals to care for Kaiser Permanente members.

Kaiser Permanente is a nonprofit health system that offers a leading model of health care that integrates care and coverage. This connected system includes care delivered by Kaiser Permanente primary care and specialty providers, along with an extensive external network of providers and hospitals.

CommonSpirit is also a nonprofit health system, with a long history of caring for the people of Colorado. The Mountain Region of CommonSpirit Health operates 20 hospitals and more than 240 care sites, with a team of over 16,000 employees and 5,300 physicians and advanced practice clinicians.

"We are proud to have cared for Coloradans for 55 years and to be evolving and expanding access to additional high-quality hospitals and providers to better meet the needs of our members for decades to come," said Mike Ramseier, regional president of Kaiser Permanente. "By working together with a like-minded health system, we will deliver on our mission of providing high-quality, affordable health care and improving the health of our members and the communities we serve."

Beginning in early 2025, this new strategic relationship will give Kaiser Permanente members access to CommonSpirit hospitals for inpatient and emergency services. These hospitals include:

• St. Anthony Hospital (Lakewood) – a full-service, acute care hospital designated as a Level I Trauma Center and Comprehensive Stroke Center. In addition to earning a CMS 5-Star Safety Rating and Magnet designation for exceptional nursing care, St. Anthony is also headquarters for Flight for Life, the nation's first and one of the most accomplished critical care transport programs.
• St. Anthony North Hospital (Westminster) – has earned a Leapfrog "A" for patient safety and Magnet designation, and opened a state-of-the-art, 5-story tower in July that will include a premier 30,000-square-foot cancer center that incorporates Medical Oncology, Radiation Oncology, Infusion and space for specialists to see patients. The tower also includes a surgical unit, and as future floors of the tower are built out, it will have three 30-bed medical surgical units and an additional 25-bed ICU.
• OrthoColorado Hospital (Lakewood) – the only orthopedic and spine specialty hospital in the Rocky Mountain Region. The state-of-the-art facility is located on the St. Anthony Hospital campus.
• Longmont United Hospital (Longmont) – a full-service acute care hospital, which has provided high-quality, whole-person care for more than 60 years to Longmont and the surrounding communities. The hospital has a Leapfrog "A" for patient safety. Longmont United is also a Primary Stroke Center. (Kaiser Permanente physicians and staff will not be integrated into this hospital for inpatient care at this time).

To meet the needs of Kaiser Permanente members, Kaiser Permanente plans to integrate top-rated specialty care physicians and employees into the medical staffs at St. Anthony Hospital, St. Anthony North Hospital, and OrthoColorado Hospital beginning in 2025. This will include hospitalists, general surgeons, orthopedists, cardiologists, palliative care physicians, pulmonologists, and other specialists.

"By combining our medical expertise and commitment to compassionate care, CommonSpirit Health and Kaiser Permanente are building a comprehensive, long-term relationship that will reshape how and where healing can happen," said Andrew Gaasch, CommonSpirit's Mountain region president. "We know healing close to home is important to every patient, and through this collaboration, we look forward to welcoming Kaiser Permanente members and ensuring every patient experiences outstanding care and service when they need us most."

"We regularly assess our relationships with hospitals and community providers to ensure we provide our members and patients with the right care at the right time and right place," said Jeff Krawcek, MD, executive medical director and president of Colorado Permanente Medical Group. "As we deepen our relationship with CommonSpirit Health, we remain dedicated to delivering exceptional patient care while optimizing our unique care delivery model and exploring new ways to keep health care high-quality and affordable."

In Southern Colorado, Kaiser Permanente members have had access to CommonSpirit hospitals in Colorado Springs, Pueblo, and Cañon City for many years. In Colorado Springs, Kaiser Permanente members have access to Penrose Hospital, St. Francis Hospital, and St. Francis Hospital-Interquest. Furthermore, members have access to St. Thomas More Hospital in Cañon City and St. Mary-Corwin Hospital in Pueblo.

In addition to aligning with new local hospitals, Kaiser Permanente is making significant investments to build new, state-of-the-art replacement medical offices in Lakewood, Parker, and Pueblo, and renovate many of its 29 medical offices across the Front Range.

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The agreement also reinforces both organizations' long-standing commitments to serving the Colorado community with high-quality, affordable health care. Kaiser Permanente brought its mission-based, integrated health care model to Colorado in 1969, and CommonSpirit's Mountain Region, founded by the Catholic Sisters who cared for the miners and railroad workers who traveled west, has provided high-quality, patient-centered care since 1882.

About CommonSpirit Health
CommonSpirit Health is a nonprofit, Catholic health system dedicated to advancing health for all people. It was created in February 2019 by Catholic Health Initiatives and Dignity Health. With its national office in Chicago and a team of over 175,000 employees and 25,000 physicians and advanced practice clinicians, CommonSpirit operates 142 hospitals and more than 2,200 care sites across 24 states. In FY 2022, CommonSpirit had revenues of $33.9 billion and provided $4.9 billion in charity care, community benefit, and unreimbursed government programs. Learn more at www.commonspirit.org.

About Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America's leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, Kaiser Permanente has a mission to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve more than 12.5 million members in 8 states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal Permanente Medical Group physicians, specialists, and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery, and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education, and the support of community health. For more information, go to about.kp.org 

Contact:
Kaiser Permanente media relations
[email protected]

SOURCE Kaiser Permanente