Miller donation helps Intermountain launch 'model' child health system

Last week, Intermountain Healthcare unveiled its plan to create a national model health system for children and the $500 million investment in it plans to make it happen. The healthcare organization also announced that the first $50 million toward its goal is coming from Utah businesswoman, civic leader and philanthropist Gail Miller and the Larry H. Miller family organization.

In conjunction with the announcement, Intermountain revealed plans to build an additional Primary Children’s Hospital campus in Lehi. The new five-story, 66-bed hospital campus will provide trauma and emergency services, behavioral health, intensive care and surgical and clinic services not available elsewhere in Utah County, the healthcare giant said.

“It’s more than we’ve ever done before. It’s a huge leap of faith,” Miller told the crowd gathered in Primary Children’s outpatient center. She became emotional as she recalled a time when her first son, Greg Miller, was saved by doctors at the hospital as an infant after he fell off a bed and suffered blood clots.

The plan to build a model health system for children is made possible through the unique combination of the free-standing Primary Children’s Hospital, the strength of Intermountain’s network of 160 clinics and 24 hospitals and pediatric specialty expertise from University of Utah Health, the organization said.

The new model will expand the Primary Children’s care network, which serves children in a 400,000 square-mile area in Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Nevada and Alaska.

“By bringing together coordinated teams of specialized pediatric caregivers from multiple Intermountain facilities and Primary Children’s pediatric partners at University of Utah Health, Intermountain’s plan to build the nation’s model health system for children will feature advancements in pediatric health research, innovation and technology,” Intermountain said in a release.

“This effort comes at a critical time, as the number of children served by Intermountain Healthcare continues to rapidly grow, and their needs continue to change and become more complex,” said Katy Welkie, CEO of Primary Children’s Hospital and vice president of Intermountain’s Children’s Health. “To address the growing need for health issues facing children, we must create a new model of pediatric care that will cater to the unique challenges that we see across our large geographic area. In building the nation’s model health system for children, we are positioning Utah as the home for the nation’s healthiest kids.”

Intermountain said it has committed to funding half of the $500 million or more needed to complete the plan and has commissioned the Intermountain Foundation to seek the remaining funding through philanthropic support. This represents the largest commitment to the care and health of the region’s children since Primary Children’s was envisioned in the early 1900s.

Intermountain’s plan to build the nation’s model health system for children includes three components and associated projects, programs and facilities:

• Strengthen Primary Children’s Hospital to include an advanced fetal care center, an enlarged and enhanced Level 4 neonatal intensive care unit, an expanded cancer treatment center and breakthroughs in pediatric research with University of Utah Health at the new Primary Children’s Center for Personalized Medicine.

• Extend excellence in pediatric care across the Intermountain West, including the new Lehi Hospital and an expanded pediatric care network that will expand Primary Children’s Hospital throughout the Intermountain West, bringing specialty care closer to families outside the Wasatch Front through telemedicine technologies, digital health services and pediatric emergency clinicians in rural areas.

• Innovatively target emerging children’s health needs with additional mental and behavioral health services for children, teen-to-adult transition programs to w help children with serious conditions such as diabetes and cystic fibrosis and a coordinated Healthy Kids program that will provide interventions to children experiencing traumatic events to decrease their risk for health issues later in life. This program includes partnerships with school and community groups throughout Utah.

“The time to enhance the health of our children, families and communities at all levels is now,” said Dr. Marc Harrison, president and CEO of Intermountain Healthcare, who is also a pediatric critical care physician. “We are humbled and honored that the Miller family has provided this transformative gift to help Intermountain Healthcare achieve the best care for children anywhere. We will steward this precious gift for the sole good of our children and hope that it will inspire others to join us and help bring this once-in-a-generation opportunity to life.”

“Intermountain Healthcare’s plan is impactful and innovative and will improve our collective health through a finite focus on children,” said Miller. “Our family is committed to enriching lives and doing good in our communities. We understand from personal experience how important it is to have the highest quality healthcare available to address the needs of children. Our family absolutely recognized the need to be involved in this historic model health system.”