Sidney, Neb. –Memorial Health Center (MHC) announces that a management services agreement has been reached with Poudre Valley Health System (PVHS) of Fort Collins, Colo. The agreement with PVHS is for management support only. The day-to-day operations, responsibilities, policies and decisions made for the hospital will continue to rest with the MHC board of directors and staff.

The current management agreement with Quorum Health Resources (QHR) of Brentwood, Tenn., ends in December 2010. The MHC board of directors determined that available options should be researched to ensure that the consideration of MHC’s best interests going forward.

“The five-year relationship with QHR has been successful on many levels, and we appreciate all of the support they have provided us,” stated Rob Robinson, MHC board of directors chairman.  “But after reviewing additional options we have decided to move in a new direction for management services."

“Poudre Valley Health System is a well-recognized and award-winning organization,” said Robinson. “We know this will be a good fit for MHC. They have achieved an impressive list of awards that include the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, they are a Magnet hospital and acknowledged as one of the Best Places to Work in Healthcare.”

The MHC board of directors is pleased that a new arrangement has been made with QHR, said Robinson. This arrangement allows MHC to retain certain important aspects of the current QHR agreement, including project-specific consulting, education, and supply chain solutions.

“MHC is located in a small rural community, but the expectations of their patients are as advanced as any large community,” said Dr. Clinton Dorwart, Sidney Medical Associates (SMA) chief of staff. “Enhancing our ability to meet the community’s needs is our top priority. Patients deserve the very best we can provide. We will continue to provide our patients with access to a very strong group of consulting physicians through our Specialty Clinic."

“Physicians join us from some of the regions finest organizations. Regional West Medical Center, Dorwart Cancer Center, Regional West Physicians Clinic, Heart Center of the Rockies, Aurora Denver Cardiology, Gem City Bone and Joint, Oregon Trail Eye Center, among a growing list of providers that play an important role in ensuring that medical services are offered at a local level,” said Dr. Dorwart.

“We are honored that the MHC Board of Directors has entrusted us as their partners in carrying out their vision for Memorial Health Center in the Nebraska panhandle,” said Rulon Stacey, Poudre Valley Health System chief executive officer. “We look forward working with MHC, identifying areas of opportunities to improve operational efficiencies and profitability without compromising the quality of care that MHC is known for.”

Stacey said that PVHS’s first goal is to help the MHC board of directors locate the best individual to assume the role of chief executive officer.

Poudre Valley Health System and the MHC board of directors will collaborate to replace the current interim CEO, Joyce Grove Hein.

For more information, please contact Evie Ranslem-Parsons, director of public relations for MHC at 308.254.5825, email at erparsons@memorialhealthcenter.org or go to the MHC website at www.memorialhealthcenter.org.