IDAHO FALLS, IDAHO - Building a new surgical hospital in a town dominated by a powerful tertiary care facility can be overwhelming. As if getting through the particulars of building, licensing and accrediting a surgical facility isn't enough, once the facility is built, the competition may resort to all kinds of tactics to keep doctors and patients away. But, as we found out when building Mountain View Surgical Hospital, if there is a need for surgical services, and if the creators of the facility strongly believe in their concept, anything is possible.

A one-hospital town
In our town of Idaho Falls, the local 200-plus bed Columbia HCA Hospital was known for providing quality care, but it denied contracts with some major insurers in our area. Consequently, pregnant women were driving as much as 30 miles to deliver at hospitals outside our community, and a high number of patients were having total joint replacements elsewhere. We were losing market share to other cities due to problems we couldn't control.