Lucas Cites Distance, Technology as Partnership Obstacles

Cheyenne Regional Medical Center C-E-O Dr. John Lucas says the physical distance between CRMC and Wyoming Medical Center proved to be one of the major barriers to a proposed partnership between the two hospitals. Lucas says the distance essentially ruled out a consolidation of services to lower costs, which theoretically had been one of the major pluses to a partnership. Lucas says the other major obstacle to a partnership was the fact that both hospitals are well along in the process of implementing very different technological platforms. Lucas says to standardize the platforms between the two facilities would not have been cost effective at this point in view of the potential savings, which would have been less than originally thought.