After more than a year of one of the most challenging times for health care workers, Forbes recently named UCHealth as the No. 1 employer in Colorado.

The organization’s annual list of America’s Best Employers By State was released after a survey of 80,000 Americans working for businesses with at least 500 employees.

“The Forbes recognition is a great tribute to all of the nurses, doctors and staff who make up our organization,” said Kevin Unger, president and CEO of UCHealth’s Northern Colorado Region. “It’s been a tough year and a half, but they all continue to show up every day fully committed to providing the best possible patient care and experience. I couldn’t be prouder.”

UCHealth is an innovative, nonprofit health system that delivers the highest quality medical care with an excellent patient experience. UCHealth includes 26,000 employees, hundreds of physicians, 12 acute-care full-service hospitals, more than 150 clinic locations across Colorado, southern Wyoming and western Nebraska.  In northern Colorado, this includes Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, Greeley Hospital in Greeley, Yampa Valley Medical Center in Steamboat Springs, Longs Peak Hospital in Longmont and numerous UCHealth outpatient medical clinics.

The system offers a comprehensive health, welfare and retirement benefit package to full-time and part-time employees, including tuition reimbursement, a pension plan, an annual bonus and shift incentive program.

And the company continues to grow with the population of Colorado. Over the past 6 months, UCHealth has hired more than 4,400 new, external employees including more than 1,100 new nurses. New employee orientations often have hundreds of people in each class, and today, UCHealth has about 7% more employees than at this time last year.

These new employees are making a difference, but especially when our hospitals are as full as they are right now, recruiting employees and retaining current employees are top priorities for the system.

For more information about the Forbes list and its methodology, click here.