COLUMBUS - Columbus Community Hospital says it has provided a positive economic impact on both the City of Columbus and the state of Nebraska.

CCH recently released a look at their 2018 economic impact, saying the hospital generated more than $96 million of revenue, which resulted in more than $1.6 million in state and local taxes. The hospital also created more than $36 million in downstream business, as well as visitor spending in restaurants and hotels.

CCH President & CEO Michael Hansen says growing the hospital has been the goal since starting in his position nearly ten years ago.

"I got here in November of 2009, and really the charge of the board at that time when I came on was to develop Columbus Community Hospital into a regional hospital," Hansen said. "You've seen that over the last ten years, and that will continue for the foreseeable future."

While the impact study says CCH provided 637 jobs in 2018, Vice President of Finance Chad Van Cleave says the hospital has expanded its employee base even further, as the elimination of long-term debt has helped CCH be able to continually expand over the last decade.

"Currently we're at about 760 employees, through practice acquisitions, and the growth and expansion of our service lines," Van Cleave said. "You're also going to see that with the expansion of our OR and OB services, we expect to see increased migration from surrounding communities over the next 2-3 years."

The hospital is currently undergoing a $35 million expansion, which is set to be completed in spring 2021. Hansen says the hospital board has met regarding the future of CCH, which will aim to continue the growth which has occurred over the past ten years.

"As far as the future, our board has met, so there are several things on the horizon that we're looking at, and we'll continue to grow and fill in the gaps in terms of programs, services, and providers," Hansen said.