Standing in a new ambulatory operating suite in Valley Hospital days before it went live, new CEO Tim Moran recalls how different the operating rooms were when he worked in hospital maintenance as a college student in upstate New York 35-some years ago.

Moran says he once was tasked with painting an operating room and remembers being able to open windows to let in fresh air—and potentially other things they wouldn't allow in an operating room today.

"Things have changed," he says, surveying the environmentally controlled room. "For the better."

Valley Hospital, which along with Deaconess Hospital and Rockwood Clinic comprises the Rockwood Health System, named Moran as its CEO late last month, removing the interim tag from his title that had been there since he took the position in late June. He replaces Dennis Barts, who accepted a hospital CEO position in Boulder, Colo.

An executive with more than 35 years of experience, Moran had come to Spokane from a Salt Lake City-area hospital, where he had served in an interim role for just under a year. Both the Rockwood Health System and the Utah hospital are owned by Community Health Systems, the big Brentwood, Tenn.-based medical center operator.

Moran says he's joining Valley Hospital in a period of growth for the facility, located at 12606 E. Mission in Spokane Valley.

"One of the reasons I stayed is Valley Hospital is solid," he says. "Valley is well positioned to grow as the community grows."

Washington state Department of Health data show a large jump in discharges at Valley Hospital in 2012, compared with the previous year. The hospital reported about 6,900 discharges last year, up from about 5,000 in the previous year, a 38 percent increase.

The growth in patient counts occurs as the Valley finishes the latest in $18 million worth of improvements that have occurred since CHS acquired the hospital in 2009.

One of those project involved remodeling the 1 North wing of the hospital to add 19 patient beds, increasing the total number of inpatient beds to 123, which is the maximum allowed under its certificate-of-need license from the Washington state Department of Health.

Most recently, Valley Hospital completed $7 million in improvements to accommodate an ambulatory surgery suite, which includes two operating rooms and is located in the Valley Medical Center building, at 1414 N. Houk, that connects to the hospital via a skywalk bridge.

Moran says the suites had operated for a number of years, and the hospital shut them down in the late 2000s. Valley decided to reopen them to ease some of the pressure on operating rooms in the main hospital building, which will be used primarily for inpatient procedures.

Valley completed a remodel earlier this summer on operating suites in the hospital in a separate, $4 million project. Moran referred to those as interactive suites, with enhanced lighting, cameras, and large screens for use during surgery.

The hospital doesn't have plans for any additional, significant capital improvements currently, Moran says.

The improvements at Valley Hospital precede the opening of a couple of large, new medical facilities in Spokane Valley.

Providence Health Care, the Spokane-based medical network, is well under way on construction of a $58 million medical center that will expand substantially its outpatient and urgent-care services in Spokane Valley. The two-building, 127,000-square-foot facility is going up on 11 acres of land at 16528 E. Desmet Court, three miles east of the hospital. That structure is scheduled to be completed in spring of 2014.

Also, Cancer Care Northwest PS, of Spokane, is on track to open later this month its $14 million, 37,000-square-foot facility at 1204 N. Vercler, directly southeast of Valley Hospital.

Moran says that while competition for some services likely will increase, he doesn't anticipate the additional facilities affecting Valley Hospital's growth.

"To the extent that there's a competitive element, I think that's a good thing. I think it's good for the patient," Moran says. "Our revenues are going to be based on how successful we are in delivering quality care. That's where our focus is."

He says Valley Hospital's strengths include orthopedics, women's services, and its emergency department, and he would like to continue to enhance the hospital's surgery services.

The Joint Commission accrediting agency named Valley Hospital to its national list of Top Performers on Key Quality Measures and received that organization's certification in knee and hip replacements. Also, it recently received high marks from Consumer Reports magazine, Moran says.

Valley Hospital has more than 575 physicians on staff and more than 700 employees.

Moran started his career as a hospital administrator in the mid-1970s after earning a master's degree in health care administration from Syracuse University.

He spent almost 20 years of his career working for Tenet Healthcare Corp., the big, publicly traded Dallas-based health care corporation. With Tenet, Moran oversaw construction of new hospitals in Saudi Arabia and South Carolina.

Since leaving Tenet in 1994, Moran has spent the bulk of his time managing medical facilities in California for a range of operators. He has worked for CHS since 2011, starting as interim CEO of the Watsonville Community Hospital, in Watsonville, Calif., south of the San Francisco Bay area, before going to the Utah hospital he ran prior to Valley.

In coming months, Moran says he intends to get involved in business organizations both in Spokane Valley and in the Spokane area in general.

"I recognize as a CEO at Valley the importance of being part of the business community," Moran says.