Parkview Medical Center has struck a new partnership with Denver-based UCHealth to become the newest member of the UCHealth Integrated Network -- a collaboration of health care providers that shares information and resources in the interest of improving patient care.

The move was announced Thursday in a Parkview press release that underscored Parkview has not been sold, absorbed or merged with UCHealth, and that Parkview will instead be a vested partner in the network while maintaining its autonomy as an independently governed hospital.

"Joining UCHealth Integrated Network will help better position Parkview to respond to some of the new and emerging challenges in health care today, while continuing our work as a leading health care provider in Southern Colorado," Parkview CEO Mike Baxter said in the release.

"This new alignment will support our effort to remain a locally governed medical facility, committed to providing exceptional care to our patients."

As to how the partnership will help address those emerging challenges, Baxter said the collaboration will provide Parkview with increased access to useful information and technology, and will give patients access to services not provided at Parkview, such as treatment of burn injuries and organ transplants.

"We're very committed to being a community hospital and this helps equip us to move forward and still maintain our autonomy," Baxter said, "Our goal is to keep everything we can do in town, in town. But if there is something that's beyond our scope .?.?. this will help expedite some of those things."

According to the release, Parkview's financial investment into UCHealth Integrated Network allows the hospital to have an ownership stake and a voice in the network's design and structure, while remaining a local community hospital.

"We're actually going to be an owner of this venture, so we're going to be a participant, but we're also going to be an owner," Baxter said, "Over two years we're going to be a 10 percent owner."

Parkview joins more than 2,100 service providers that have already partnered with UCHealth and University of Colorado Medicine. Details of the partnership are continuing to develop and the partnership does not take effect until January.

zhillstrom@chieftain.com