UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital

Admissions process for surgery at Poudre Valley Hospital

Once your doctor refers you for surgery or a procedure at Poudre Valley Hospital, your doctor’s office typically will schedule a pre-admission appointment for you. This appointment is required before surgery.

Call 970.624.1500 as soon as possible to schedule your pre-admission appointment if your doctor’s office has not done so already.

During this appointment you will:

• Meet with an admissions clerk to verify that all paperwork is accurate.
• Learn the total out-of-pocket expense of your procedure.
• Meet with a pre-admission nurse who will explain what to expect the day of surgery and which currently prescribed medications can be taken before the surgery.

You may also complete any required diagnostic tests after meeting with the nurse. Ask your doctor if you can eat or drink before your appointment.

• A list of your medicines (prescription and non-prescription) you are currently taking, along with their dosage amounts and when you take them. You may bring the bottles or containers. Include supplements, vitamins, and herbs you routinely take. This medication form can help you create an up-to-date medication list.
• Any forms you were asked to bring with you.
• Your insurance information and Medicare card, if you have one.
• A copy of your living will or advance directive, which will be placed in your medical record.

Day of procedure or surgery

Bring the following items on the day of your surgery:

• Insurance card and/or prescription plan card, and current photo ID.
• Any additional papers given to you by your doctor’s office.

Other helpful tips

• Leave your jewelry and valuables at home.
• Wear loose-fitting clothes you can put on easily when it’s time to leave.
• Bring only a few personal items, such as a toiletry kit.
• If you are having surgery and you need to bring a suitcase, leave it in your vehicle when you get here. It can be brought to your room later.

UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital encourages you to ask questions about your care during your stay. If we don’t meet your expectations or you have a specific concern during your stay, please let your caregiver know. You may also request to speak with the department manager or hospital supervisor.

Resolving a concern

If you feel that your complaint has not been promptly resolved to your satisfaction or if you verbalize your desire to file a written grievance, your request may be forwarded to our UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital patient representatives, who:

• Serve as liaisons between patients, families, hospital and medical staff.
• Advocate for patients’ rights.
• Promote patient satisfaction.
• Serve as points of contact for organization-wide complaints and grievances.
• Provide feedback from the patient to the organization to continually improve the patient experience.

If, despite our best efforts, you or your family have problems or questions concerning your hospitalization, please call the Patient Representatives at 970.495.7346.

For more information on the UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital grievance process, please contact the Patient Representative Office at 970.495.7346 or mail a letter to PVH Patient Representative, 1024 S. Lemay Avenue, Fort Collins, CO 80524.

We would be pleased to assist you with hotel reservations, referrals, information, errands, and questions before or during your hospital stay.

PVH concierge services
Phone: 970.495.8582
Monday through Friday, 5 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday, 6 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Location: The concierge is located by the gift shop in the main entry hallway on the main level.

The concierge can help make your day easier with such services as:

• Arranging discount accommodations for out-of-town guests (see “Transportation & lodging” below).
• Referrals and directions to local restaurants, parks, businesses, theaters and movies.
• Scheduling haircuts.
• Getting clothes to the laundry or dry cleaners.
• Delivering you a newspaper, magazine or video in the hospital.
• Mailing letters, cards and packages.
• Ordering flowers.
• Personal shopping.
• Calling for a taxi or shuttle service.
• Gift wrapping.
• Web searches for flights, weather and business information.
• Wheelchair assistance.
• Escorting guests to the cafeteria (on the lower level).
• Sending faxes.
• Clerical services (photocopying, mailings, etc.).
• Meeting and assisting visitors for a patient.
• Scheduling car wash and locksmith services.
• Giving hospital tours.
• Celebrating patient birthdays and anniversaries.
• Helping arrange pet care.
• Arranging for a therapeutic pet or clown visit in the room.
• Notary, Living Wills, Durable Powers of Attorney, etc.

Please note: Some services we provide may have a cost from an outside business. The concierge will discuss this with you.

UCHealth EMS combines the latest technology and innovation to provide:

• 911 emergency ambulance services.
• interfacility transportation.
• critical care ground transport services.
• air medical operations.
• event medicine services.
• community paramedics.

Learn more

Cafeteria

PVH offers a full-service cafeteria with a salad and soup bar, entrée bar, pizza, grill and more. The cafeteria is located on the lower level on the northeast side of the building.

Hours

Monday – Friday 6:30 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Saturday and Sunday 7 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Room service

If you prefer, you can order a tray from the room-service menu to be delivered to your guest’s room. You pay when the tray is delivered; we accept cash or checks. For information about the day’s cafeteria specials, dial 970.495.8065.

Room service hours

Seven days a week from 6:30 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Bistro

If you want to feel away from it all, step into the world of a sidewalk café in Paris. The Bistro offers pastries, lattés, coffee, sandwiches, salads and other ‘light’ menu items.

The Bistro is located close to the ER and surgery waiting rooms on the first floor. It is open weekdays from 6:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Vending machines

Located in the hallway near the cafeteria entrance to provide food and beverages 24 hours a day.

Visit the UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital Gift Shop page for information regarding hours of operation, products sold, contact information and more.

Learn more about accepted insurance at UCHealth

Please notify us if you have an insurance plan change, coverage change or insurance loss, so we can properly bill your claims in a timely manner.

Please let any member of our team know if you would like an interpreter. Interpretation services are free and available 24 hours a day at UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital.

Visit My Health Connection to view your latest medical records online.

You may so request a printed copy of your medical records. UCHealth is required by law to obtain your written permission before releasing any copies. If you desire to receive a copy of your medical records.

Complete the Request for Medical Records form to make your pick-up request.

Parking is free in our patient and visitor lot on the east side of the hospital. Just follow the signs from Lemay Avenue and Doctor’s Lane to the main entrance.

Parking map and directions

We also have a free valet parking service for you to use. Just drive up to the main entrance and contact a valet attendant.

Valet service hours

Weekdays from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

No tipping is necessary. In addition, we provide a shuttle service to take you from your car to the main entrance.

Stork parking

Parents-to-be can find easy, reserved ‘stork parking’ spaces near the ER and surgery entrances (south side of the hospital). Turn east at the traffic light at Lemay Avenue and Robertson Street. Use these parking spaces if you’re in labor. One of our volunteers or staff will be happy to take you to the Birthing Center on the 3rd floor.

Privacy (HIPAA) and your information

At your request we keep information about your hospital stay private and confidential, as required by federal law (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA).

One way we maintain your privacy is to set up a special password at your request. You tell us this password, which you may share with friends and family so they can find out how you’re doing. When callers give us your password, we can update them on your progress. If callers don’t know the password, we cannot tell them anything about your condition.

We’ll write your password on a note card for you to keep.

Advance directives and living wills

We can help you complete a Living Will or other advance directive at your pre-admission appointment. These legal documents spell out the care you want — or don’t want — in case you cannot make your own decisions and communicate them to us.

Learn more about advance directives and living wills

Only service animals and therapy animals are allowed at Poudre Valley Hospital. Please contact a staff member if you have questions.

What to expect when you arrive

At Poudre Valley Hospital, patients and families are our partners in health.

While you are at the hospital, “speak up” and let us know:

• What you think.
• If you are worried about anything.
• What you may need.

Our hospital is designed with you and your family in mind. While your hospital stay may not be easy for you, we intend to offer the very best care, emotional support and education throughout your time with us.

What to bring

• A list of your current medications.
• A few personal belongings.
• Clothes to wear when you go home from the hospital.

What not to bring

• Items of great value to you.

Going home

We want you to be fully prepared for going home. We will let you know an approximate date for discharge when you are admitted. If we don’t share that with you, please ask us.

Our security staff is here for you. If you’re coming and going from the hospital late at night and would like an escort to your vehicle, ask your nurse to contact our officers.

If you need spiritual support, a hospital chaplain is always available to help. Chaplains provide spiritual encouragement and counsel as well as compassionate emotional support for people of all faiths.

Chaplain services 

Call 970.495.7000 or you may ask a staff member to page the chaplain.

The interfaith chapel at Poudre Valley Hospital is located on the first floor near the main elevators. As a place for quiet meditation and prayer, it is always open.

Smoking and tobacco products of any kind are not permitted anywhere inside or on PVH grounds.

Smoking products include any cigar, cigarette, pipes, or any smoking device or substance which is lighted and inhaled. This includes E-cigarettes.

Tobacco products include cigars, cigarettes, pipes, chewing tobacco, or snuff.

Bus service

The City of Fort Collins Transfort Bus Service offers several routes that connect with the #5 yellow line that runs directly by the hospital on Lemay Avenue every 60 minutes.

Taxi service

Yellow Cab taxi provides taxi service in Loveland, Fort Collins, Greeley and Longmont. Call Yellow Cab at 970.224.2222.

Dial-A-Ride

If you need extra help, Dial-A-Ride is a door-to-door paratransit service for individuals who, because of a disability, can’t use the Transfort bus service. Hours are from 6 a.m. – 11 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. on Sundays and Holidays. Call Dial-A-Ride at 970.224.6066.

Lodging assistance

Poudre Valley Hospital offers assistance with lodging options for out-of-town patients and their families. Our concierge service can help in advance with lodging – please call 970.495.8582 or submit the form below.

PVH does not provide transportation to and from the hotels, but some hotels have their own shuttle.

For the safety of our patients, visitors and staff:

Visitors to patients staying overnight (inpatients) or to the emergency department, are required to check in to receive a visitor badge. Visitor badges must be worn at all times.

Please click here to see updated visitor information.

Call the PVH switchboard at 970.495.7000 and request a specific department for more information, or to look up a guest.

UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital offers free internet access, our network is UCH-Visitor.

Emergency Virtual Health visits enable specialists to consult with local emergency room physicians via video conferencing to help with specific patient emergencies such as stroke or trauma.

UCHealth has a robust Telestroke program to help hospital ED physicians across the state of Colorado and southern Wyoming treat stroke patients in record time, saving every precious brain cell possible. Virtual Health allows neurology specialists to provide expert guidance to community hospital providers. These providers can now keep, and treat, many stroke patients they may not have been able to before.

If a patient needs more advanced care, we transport that patient to one of the country’s best comprehensive stroke centers.

Visit with a physician by video using your computer, tablet or smartphone in the convenience of your home, office or location that is convenient for you. No drive time, no waiting room, no need to get out of your pajamas (if you don’t want to).

You’ll be seen and treated by a UCHealth medical professional just as if you were to visit seen face-to-face in one of our many health care facilities.

Virtual Urgent Care visits are scheduled in My Health Connection, UCHealth’s patient portal. Log in or Sign up now to schedule a Virtual Urgent Care visit.

For the best experience, download the UCHealth app today.

Types of illnesses treated in a Virtual Urgent Care visit:

• Allergic reaction
• Cold/flu
• Cough
• Diarrhea
• Cuts and scrapes
• Pink eye
• Rash
• Sinus infection
• Sore throat
• Urinary tract infection
• Vomiting

Insurance

Your Virtual Urgent Care visit may be covered by insurance. However, if your health plan denies this charge you will receive a bill for this service.

Many health plans are adding virtual visits (telehealth) as a covered benefit.  However, there are some healthcare plans that do not cover virtual visits, such as Medicare.

For most insurance plans, we will attempt to bill your insurance- you may be responsible for your co-payment amount prior to seeing the doctor.  However, if your health plan denies this charge you will receive a bill for this service.  Also, please note that to bill medical insurance, a successful video connection must occur between the patient and the doctor.

Giving of oneself is the ultimate gift to our world. We treasure the time and energy our volunteers give back each and every day. Whether you give your time, money, talents, or thoughts, it is a gift that makes our community stronger.

Make a gift to UCHealth Northern Colorado Foundation to support the services provided by Poudre Valley Hospital, Medical Center of the Rockies, Greeley Hospital, as well as the clinics of northern Colorado.

Share your time and talents by volunteering at Poudre Valley Hospital, Medical Center of the Rockies or other UCHealth sites in northern Colorado. Hundreds of community members are volunteers. You’ll make new friends, enjoy a change of pace, gain a new perspective, learn more about health care and, most importantly, you’ll help the UCHealth effort to improve lives.

Go to our volunteer page to find out more about volunteer opportunities at UCHealth facilities.