The Grand Island, Nebraska Regional Hospital has hired Larry Speicher as CEO. The former CEO of the nearby Kearney Regional Medical Center (KRMC) in Kearney, Nebraska, Speicher assumes leadership of the new four-story, 174,000-square-foot full-service community hospital currently under construction in southwest Grand Island. The new hospital is the brainchild of a consortium of local physicians and community partners who have been working to create a new hospital that focuses on the community and the healthcare needs of the region.

Speicher is no stranger to the physician-led model. He was involved in the planning, fundraising, development and construction of KRMC, also physician-led, long before it opened in 2014. Since then, the hospital and medical office space has nearly doubled its footprint to about 170,000 square feet. Speicher has been credited for keeping the medical center’s physicians informed throughout the process and for rapidly expanding its staff and facilities.

“This same success is what we’ll have in Grand Island with Larry’s leadership,” said Dr. Ryan Crouch, one the physicians leading the effort for the new hospital. “We found the best possible candidate for this role.”

Before becoming KRMC’s CEO, Speicher was administrator of Platte Valley Medical Group.

Born in Columbus and raised in Kearney, Speicher said he is looking forward to developing talent and improving the delivery of care in the Grand Island area.

The 64-bed hospital and contingent development will become a significant new gateway for Grand Island with significant economic benefits. A cost-benefit analysis prepared by the University of Nebraska at Kearney and reported by the Grand Island Independent estimates that the construction phase will create about $153 million in economic activity; generate about $260,000 in local sales tax and support; and create 1,023 regional jobs. The ongoing operation of the new facilities will add an additional $145 million in economic activity and $250,000 in annual local sales tax. It will support approximately 1,054 jobs in the area going forward, including nearly 300 hospital jobs.

Services offered will include emergency care, intensive care, surgery, labor and delivery, imaging and diagnostics (MRI, CT, nuclear medicine, mammography, ultrasound), endoscopy, interventional procedures, medicine services, a cath lab and a pharmacy.

“I’m excited about helping these physicians build an organization that will be so valuable in the Grand Island area,” Speicher said. “This hospital will have many long-lasting positive effects on the local marketplace.”

The hospital was designed by HDR; the general contractor is Chief Industries Construction. The expected completion date is December 2019, with patients being served beginning in 2020.