Voters approve Univ. of Colo. Health lease

By a more than 4-1 margin, voters Tuesday in Colorado Springs, Colo., accepted the terms of an almost $1.8 billion deal for the newly formed University of Colorado Health system to lease (PDF) the city-owned Memorial Health System.

The agreement goes in effect Oct. 1, and UC Health spokesman Dan Weaver said the deal calls for an original nine-year lease period after which a “rolling” 30-year lease will be renewed each year.

“We anticipate having a very close relationship with Colorado Springs for a very long time,” Weaver said.

The 437-bed University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora and the two-hospital Poudre Valley Health System, Fort Collins, entered into a joint agreement to operate as University of Colorado Health earlier this year. The Poudre Valley System includes the two-campus 238-bed Poudre Valley Hospital, Fort Collins; and 136-bed Medical Center of the Rockies, Loveland. Memorial Health includes a 548-bed namesake hospital, and although not an official “lease partner,” plans call for Children's Hospital of Colorado, the University of Colorado Hospital's neighbor on the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, to operate Memorial's approximately 100 pediatric beds.

The official vote count was 63,784 to 13,622 with almost 44% of registered voters participating.