CEDAR CITY — Intermountain Valley View Medical Center is changing its name to Cedar City Hospital.
Jason Wilson, CEO of the newly dubbed Cedar City Hospital, said there are some important reasons for this name change.
“Cedar City is recognized prominently in national lists and publications and has an exceptional national reputation,” Wilson said. “The Cedar City brand steadily grows stronger, and the name Cedar City Hospital can help advance our community’s brand with the best-in-class work we are doing.
“And research has shown that the easiest-to-locate hospitals have a specific geographic locator, like ‘Cedar City,’ for example,” Wilson said. “More than 3 million visitors pass through our region annually, some of whom will have urgent or emergency medical needs. We should make it easy for them to find us. We also recruit physicians and employees nationally, and having a clear locator will improve recruitment communication.”
Steve Thompson, chairman of the hospital’s governing board, also added some research points.
“Research by Intermountain shows that now more than ever, hospitals are calling themselves ‘hospitals’ for effectiveness of digital search,” Thompson said. “A recent study found that people were 10 times more likely to search for a ‘hospital’ than they were a ‘medical center.’
“In this age, nearly all search for facilities and information on a handheld or other computer. Hospitals following the naming pattern of using a city name combined with the word ‘hospital,’ helps people find hospitals more quickly and easily. It was clear to our board that this is a wise change.”
Thompson credits Wilson with helping to bring this about.
“I am extremely appreciative to Jason for seeing this name change through as he finishes his term at Valley View, now Cedar City Hospital, and beginning his new role of CEO of American Fork Hospital in January,” he said. “One can imagine the tremendous amount of work it would take to accomplish this, and Jason has worked on this tirelessly for many years now to bring this important change to fruition. Having this name change to Cedar City Hospital is the right thing to do for patients and visitors.”
Wilson has served as CEO at Valley View since 2007.
“Of course, our mission to serve the entire county and surrounding communities will remain the same,” Wilson said. “Having Cedar City in our name will absolutely not diminish our commitment to serve all of the communities in our geographic region.”
The process of changing a hospital name does take several months to complete. Exterior signage will begin to change through the month of December and interior signage is expected to be changed through January 2016, with the bulk of the transition expected to be completed before March 2016.
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