by Doug Radunich

STAFF WRITER

Editor's Note: Kelly Duffin became the new CEO of Mountain West Medical Center last month, replacing interim CEO Denten Park, who returned to his previous position as associate CEO of Payson Regional Medical Center in Payson, Ariz. Duffin came to MWMC from Santa Cruz, Calif., where he served as Chief Operating Officer of Dominican Hospital, a 379-bed medical facility. Duffin is originally from Shoshone, Idaho, and has a master's degree in healthcare administration and an MBA from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. He recently sat down with Transcript-Bulletin reporter Doug Radunich to discuss the present and future of the hospital:

Q: How is Mountain West Medical Center fairing as a business and in terms of patients served?

A: Very favorably. The scope of services that are provided here is outstanding, relative to the size of the hospital. You wouldn't expect such a full breadth and depth of services at a 38-bed community hospital, but we're able to do it. I was quite excited to start working here when I found out about the level of services offered. We have such good clinical staff. I'd say we're as good, if not better, than the hospitals in the Salt Lake area for the services we provide.

Q: What do you attribute that success to?

A: The hospital has responded to the growing demand for services by recruiting quality physicians and other employees into the community and working collaboratively with them. Our biggest challenge right now is keeping up with the demographic growth. We have one of the highest growth rates in the state, and while that has been a good thing, our challenge will be to respond to the growth with greater and improved services.

Q: How do you as CEO plan for Mountain West Medical Center to keep up with growth in Tooele County?

A: I think that we are providing excellent service now, and as we continue to provide that excellent service and ensure that there is access to the care that people need -- both outpatient and inpatient high-quality access -- then we will continue to grow as a hospital. As patients interact and receive our services, they will find that they are receiving excellent care. They will be satisfied and recommend our services to their friends and family.

Q: In your opinion, how is the hospital's reputation locally?

A: I've heard that residents are quite pleased with the new hospital, particularly in its performance in the last 12 to 18 months as shown by nationally-comparable clinical quality scores. I attribute that to the quality physicians we've recruited into the area, the existing physicians on the medical staff, and the entire clinical staff in general. I had heard mixed opinions on the old hospital that was here before Mountain West was built. It's evident that the quality of care in Tooele County has markedly improved over the last several years. We've really raised the bar of clinical quality.

Q: What new initiatives will you pursue to improve the quality of care and continue the growth of the hospital as a business?

A: We will expand in our outpatient clinical settings, meet the growing demand in all our communities, and seek to expand our services on our hospital's campus in collaborative ways. I think the landscape of healthcare in general has shifted, where we as consumers are becoming more knowledgeable about healthcare decision making. I see a shift where the patient is the center of healthcare, with the physicians, hospitals and insurance payers supporting the patient in their receiving of healthcare. In a traditional model, it could have been either the hospital or the physician in the center, making the decisions and being the one to drive them. That's not how it is anymore. Now, it requires a truly collaborative effort by all participants, with one consumer, skilled physicians and a high quality hospital.

Q: How are Mountain West Medical Center's staffing levels presently?

A: We staff at established safe levels. We're able to retain high-qualified staff to care for our patients. There is a shortage of nurses and clinical staff at hospitals nationwide, however, especially in places like California, New York and Florida, and Utah is not immune from these shortages. Here at Mountain West we have a good number of highly skilled nurses who are very well-trained, and I think that over time more people will understand that we really have a gem of a hospital here."

Q: Is recruiting and retaining doctors an ongoing battle for a rural hospital?

A: It can be, but we've been pleased with the quality of physicians that we've been able to bring into the community. There needs to be a good fit, so we seek to merge the interest of the physician with rural medicine and the growing demographic demands of the community. For many physicians, it's a great fit, and we're pleased to have them in our community.

Q: How have you personally settled into Tooele?

A: I am excited to be here in the community. I have felt so warmly welcomed here by civic and community leaders, and I feel like Tooele has truly become a place to call home. My family will move here in June after school is out, and we plan to build our home in east Erda. After growing up in a small rural town in southern Idaho and recently working in an urban area, I felt like moving to Tooele is like coming back home."

dougrad@tooeletranscript.com