Health Care

The past 15 years have brought significant change to Denver’s health care scene, due to hospital mergers and major new construction projects. Several of the city’s largest facilities have been rebuilt on the Aurora campus that holds the University of Colorado Denver’s health care programs. A few more have invested millions to upgrade their buildings.

Metro Denver residents are now well served, with three Level I trauma centers, with two emergency helicopter companies (AirLife and Flight for Life), as well as facilities such as Craig Hospital and National Jewish Health that have earned national and international acclaim for outstanding care and research developments.

In all, Metro Denver has 18 acute-­care hospitals and three rehabilitation centers. Two operations, Centura Health and HealthONE, own and operate several facilities. The largest of Denver’s hospitals, Presbyterian/St. Luke’s, just east of downtown, has 680 licensed beds and nearly 1,600 employees. The smallest, Platte Valley Medical Center, north of Denver in Brighton, has 78 licensed beds.

Because of the city’s attractive setting, Denver is able to lure high-­quality professionals to staff its facilities. Hospitals and physicians work with university researchers and high-­technology companies. The University of Colorado Hospital has been ranked as one of the 25 best hospitals in the country.

Pulmonary medicine is one example of a field in which Metro Denver enjoys renown. Many of the city’s major hospitals, including National Jewish Health and the Swedish and Exempla Lutheran medical centers, originally began as tuberculosis treatment centers back in the days when tuberculosis patients came to Colorado for the healthy air. Research and expertise at institutions such as National Jewish and the Web-­Waring Lung Institute are among the reasons why some of the world’s most advanced pulmonary-­technology manufacturers make their homes in the Denver area.

Denver’s other research and medical advancement highlights include the Belle Bonfils Blood Center, the Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, the Barbara Davis Child Diabetes Center, and the C. Henry Kempe National Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse.

To insure their health, Denverites, like others across the nation, have turned to managed-­care companies that appeal to residents’ sense of health and outdoor living through advertisements and policies that stress preventive care and healthy lifestyles.