Forthcoming Southern Nevada hospital is looking to hire thousands

While working for Intermountain Health in Utah, Mitch Cloward saw firsthand the “staggering” number of children who had to travel to the state from Nevada to receive healthcare.

“Not only did we see it in southern Utah, but we also saw it with the number of children that were going from Nevada to Salt Lake City to Primary Children’s Hospital,” he said.

Cloward said an estimated 20,000 children a year have to leave Nevada for complex healthcare.

Intermountain Health is taking steps to solve this issue with plans to start construction this year on Nevada’s first standalone children’s hospital.

“We wanted to provide a solution for Nevada to help bring these children back home,” Cloward said. “We have world-class entertainment. We have world-class sporting events and teams. We have world-class dining. We believed that Nevada could have a world-class children’s hospital.”

The Las Vegas Review-Journal sat down with Cloward, Intermountain Health’s Desert Region president, to talk about new developments with Nevada Children’s Hospital and the health system’s growth in the Las Vegas Valley. Answers are edited for clarity and brevity.

What exactly will this new children’s hospital include, and what is the size, cost and timeline?

It took us a significant amount of time to find land to build a children’s hospital, but we’ve secured land at the Harry Reid Research and Technology Park. We’ve just finished the design of our hospital with Shepley Bulfinch and Gensler.

It’s a large hospital. The entire campus really approaches a million square feet, and we’ll have between 34 and 35 acres. We’re going to start that with about 200 beds, with the ability to expand beyond that. The hospital would be built to accommodate current levels of demand, but also big enough to support future growth and development.

We’ll break ground this fall, and it’ll take us about four years to build it. Our plan is to open doors in 2030, so with respect to design and construction, we’re on track. The project’s going to cost us over $1 billion.

With a project cost of over $1 billion, what is the philanthropic side looking like?

Now we’re a nonprofit health care system, so our aspiration and our goal is that every child — regardless of their ability to pay — will get care in our hospital. So philanthropy is going to be a significant component of our work as well as recruitment, developing the workforce and bringing the physicians here.

We have multiple people within Intermountain who are working on the philanthropic side such as David Flood, Intermountain’s chief development officer and Andrew Bennett, the vice president of Intermountain Foundation – Desert Region.

Probably the most significant announcement we’ve made recently is that Bill and Wendy Hornbuckle will be leading our philanthropic efforts here for this campaign, and we’re incredibly grateful for them and their commitment to do this. They have been phenomenal at opening those doors.

What is recruitment looking like? What kind of specialties is Intermountain hiring for? How many doctors, nurses, and staff will it take to run this hospital?

To open the doors we’re going to need a medical staff of around 200 to 300 physicians. That doesn’t include advanced practice providers, with physician assistants and nurse practitioners.

Just in terms of caregivers who aren’t physicians or advanced practice providers, we’re probably going to have 2,000 to 3,000 caregivers. When you think about a hospital, what it takes to run it — It’s 24/7, 365 days, with housekeepers, radiologic technologists for imaging, medical technologists for laboratory work, nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists and more.

Then you start to turn to a pediatric medical or surgical subspecialist. We recruited Nevada’s first pediatric neurosurgeon, Dr. Taryn M. Bragg. But, there’s a whole, exhaustive list of them.

What are Intermountain’s growth plans for this year and next year? Any new openings and why?

Besides our plans for a children’s hospital in Nevada, we continue to focus on access to care through our clinics in Las Vegas. This summer we will open a 90,000-square-foot clinic, the Badura Clinic, which will be home to eight consolidated clinics and two new ones, in addition to a pediatric orthopedic practice operated, as part of a larger partnership, by Shriners Children’s. Shelled space will allow for expanded services in the future.

Badura Clinic space will be home to 10 clinics currently scattered throughout the area. Among the offerings: primary care, women’s health, endocrinology, medical and radiation oncology, and several others.

How is Intermountain trying to keep up with population growth?

We continue to work to recruit needed physician specialties, and general pediatric care, to improve the ratios of pediatricians to children in the valley.

Additionally, we have a large focus on seniors and our senior population. We want to continue to make sure they have access to the care they need and deserve, largely through our Medicare Advantage product.

We were excited to welcome Steinberg Diagnostics Medical Imaging to the Intermountain Health family earlier this year. As we move forward together, we’ll continue to review and expand access to imaging services for our communities and our plan members.

What’s the biggest thing you have learned about the valley since relocating here?

People here really care about our community. There are a lot of really good people here supporting a lot of good causes and working to make our community better, whether its through an investment of time, money or ideas.

Contact Emerson Drewes at edrewes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @EmersonDrewes on X.

Mitch Cloward

Title: Intermountain Health's Desert Region president

Education: Weber State University, bachelor's degree, health care administration; Texas Women's University, master's degree, health care administration

Favorite place for a business lunch: That is the hardest question of them all! I've only scratched the surface of the restaurants offered in Las Vegas, it's one of my favorite things about living here. Everyplace I go is my new favorite location.

Favorite family outing: We love supporting our local sport teams and enjoying a great night out.