By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon

Unshackled from managing hospitals, the head of the third-largest health foundation in the country envisions an entirely different health landscape in Colorado’s future.

Some hospitals might close because they have too few patients. Child obesity will once again be rare. And primary care could feel more like a fitness center or a neighborhood gathering spot that also happens to have health coaching along with integrated dental, medical and mental health care.

“I feel lighter,” Anne Warhover, president and CEO of the Colorado Health Foundation, said this week after the monumental sale of hospitals, whose hefty profits had funded the foundation’s philanthropy.  “I know the hospitals are doing great. The timing is right. This was meant to be.”

Anne Warhover

Last week, after Colorado Attorney General John Suthers mandated some additional consumer protections and signed off on the $1.45 billion sale, the Colorado Health Foundation closed its deal with Tennessee-based HCA, selling its share of HealthONE hospitals, which include Denver area stalwarts, Rose, Sky Ridge, Swedish and Presbyterian/St. Lukes medical centers.

With assets totaling $2.3 billion, the Health Foundation now is among the 25 largest foundations in the country. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, worth $8 billion, is the largest health foundation in the country, followed by the California Endowment, which has assets of $3.5 billion, then the Colorado Health Foundation.

Robert Wood Johnson’s mission covers the entire country, while the California Endowment focuses on the 35 million people of California.

The foundation’s mission remains making Colorado the healthiest state in the nation. With a population of 5 million, Colorado now boasts one of the biggest players in health philanthropy.

“We’re really lucky that we have this kind of resource for the health of Colorado. We’re the biggest (health foundation in the country) on a per capital basis. We have more to invest in health,” she said.

Now that the negotiations and hearings have ended, Warhover reflected on the past and the future.

She said there were times in the past when she felt the weight of the inherent conflict of interest that came with simultaneously promoting health while also owning hospitals that derived profits from the sick.

“It was a burden,” Warhover said. “Every day, we felt that conflict. You couldn’t help it. It wasn’t that we were compromising our own income stream. We wanted to be a good partner for HealthONE and for their mission. But, it wasn’t our mission.

“Sometimes that was confusing,” Warhover said. “It was getting harder and harder to do.”

Warhover said she didn’t realize how heavy the burden had become until the sale was finalized. Then, she felt an unexpected lightness and saw new possibilities.

Warhover is convinced that health comes primarily from aspects of life that have nothing to do with our health care system. For instance, genes and lifestyle play a much bigger role than doctors and hospitals do in determining healthy outcomes.

“When you’re sick you need good health care,” Warhover said.

But creating a community of people who are well and who have access to healthy foods and easy fitness opportunities may have a much greater impact.

Warhover dreams of generating cultural change.  Two of the foundation’s primary focus areas are obesity prevention and integration of primary care.

“In my dreams, I think that the culture of eating healthy foods will change, that like smoking, the environmental pressures on people to change their eating habits will be prevalent.

“In five to 10 years, I really do think that the predominant culture will be healthy eating and physical activity. It will not be fast food and hot dog-eating contests.”

Warhover is particularly concerned about Colorado’s escalating child obesity rate.

“What I want to see is our childhood obesity rate declining. If our babies are born today and this culture of health starts to take hold by the time they’re 10 years old, they’re going to be on a healthier path.

“I’m concerned about obesity, but also all the chronic diseases it leads to,” she said.

With respect to primary care, Warhover envisions entirely new systems.

“My dream is that you go to your neighborhood or community health clinic and you don’t even know or care whether you’re seeing a medical doctor or another provider. All you know is that that person cares about your mental health, your dental health and your physical health and can (refer) you to others within that clinic.”

Warhover believes that investing in quality health care will actually bring costs down.

“Usually, you think it’s the opposite. But in this case, quality will bring savings,” she predicted.

As this new era dawns, Warhover wants Colorado to lead a health revolution.

“I want companies to locate here because employees are going to be more productive because they’re healthier. I want us to grow our own healthier kids.

“I think Colorado could be a model of this new health culture.”

Editor’s note: Solutions receives funding from the Colorado Health Foundation.