New Intermountain Transformation Center to Lead Healthcare Delivery Advancement

Salt Lake City, UTAH, Sept. 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Intermountain Healthcare has opened its 120,000 square-foot Kem C. Gardner Intermountain Transformation Center.  It is the home for multiple institutes and programs that are transforming the way medical care is provided in the U.S. and globally to achieve the highest clinical quality at the lowest sustainable cost.

Intermountain’s Clinical Program leadership teams of scientists and doctors will work at the new facility to research, innovate, and develop best practices to enhance care around the world. With more than 1,500 active research studies in more than 20 clinical areas, the Transformation Center is equipped to make medical discoveries that improve care and save lives. Here’s a look at how the new facility will help Intermountain clinicians improve healthcare both in the U.S. and abroad:• Innovation. Advancements in healthcare being developed at Intermountain will continue forward in the new facility, including creating tools to better meet the needs of caregivers and patients.  For example, with the Innovation Lab at the Transformation Center, 3D technology is being used to print copies of patient organs.  This allows clinicians to gain additional insight into performing life-changing surgeries that weren’t previously possible.

• Economic Benefit for Utah. This center will be a boon to the Utah economy with the many health professionals from around the U.S. and the world that will come to the Salt Lake City-area to receive training.  For example, the internationally renowned Intermountain Healthcare Delivery Institute, which has relocated to the Transformation Center, has already attracted more than 5,000 doctors, nurses, and others attend its courses.  
• Leadership Development. A new offering from The Institute for Healthcare Leadership, led by Intermountain president emeritus Charles Sorenson, MD, will offer leadership training courses for medical professionals. The Institute includes a unique simulation center where participants practice leadership scenarios using simulation. The Institute will focus on improving leaders’ communication, teamwork, and how to engage their teams. 
• Collaboration with top healthcare leaders. Healthcare experts from all over the world are invited to the center to collaborate and share ideas to improve healthcare for patients worldwide.  
• Partnerships. The Center has partnered with CHIME Innovation to collaborate with innovative healthcare IT leaders from across the globe.“We are stewards of Intermountain’s long tradition of innovation, and this Transformation Center will be a hotbed, locally, regionally, nationally, and globally as we seek to advance that tradition,” said Marc Harrison, MD, Intermountain Healthcare president and CEO, at a dedication ceremony.

The Transformation Center is located on the campus of Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah, and is named after Kem C. Gardner, who served on Intermountain boards for 36 years and was Chair of the Intermountain Board of Trustees from 2007-2012.  He currently chairs the Intermountain Foundation Board.  

Mr. Gardner donated $20 million toward the construction of the Transformation Center. 

"I'm making this gift because Intermountain Healthcare has expertise of great importance to the world," Gardner said. "The programs housed in the Transformation Center will do so much to improve the health and care available to people in Utah and around the world.”

Intermountain Healthcare is a Utah-based not-for-profit system of 23 hospitals, 170 clinics, a Medical Group with about 2,300 employed physicians and advanced practice clinicians, a health plans group called SelectHealth, and other medical services. Intermountain is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare through high quality and sustainable costs. For more information about Intermountain, visit www.intermountainhealthcare.org.