ARLINGTON – In this era of information overload, Cascade Valley Hospital hasn’t been a contributor.

New Chief Executive Officer Mike Liepman wants to change that. “We haven’t been telling our story,” he said.

Liepman is the CEO for Skagit Valley Regional Health in Mount Vernon, which this summer merged with the Arlington hospital.

One of the first things he wants to improve is the hospital’s market share, which is only about 14 percent. To compare, his other hospital has a 41 percent market share. “We have to find out why people go elsewhere,” he said.

To find those answers, online surveys and market research will be done.

“We need to reach out to the people to find out what services they want,” he said. “Tell us what you need. What can we do better? What don’t we have?”

Liepman, who worked in Spokane for 25 years, said it is unfortunate, but some people think, “smaller is not as good,” when it comes to hospitals.

“That’s an image we can fall into,” he said.

But just like many stereotypes, that isn’t necessarily true. He said, for example, Cascade has some excellent surgeons and a strong Emergency Department for a general acute care hospital with 400 employees.

Many people think of going to metro areas for health care.

“People don’t think north,” he said. “We don’t have a grand awareness” in the surrounding area of what we have here.

He thinks more people will come to Cascade as the area grows. Both Arlington and Marysville are expected to grow by about 14,000 people each by 2035.

“We can react as volume changes,” he said.

As for what changes Skagit has for the hospital now, Liepman said they want to “move rapidly, but slowly.”

To explain, he said after finding out what the community wants and needs, it will move quickly.

“We’d like to find a niche market to serve,” he said.

For example, plastic surgery might be popular here. It’s close enough people from Seattle could drive up to have work done in more privacy.

He’d like to see more locals come here to have babies. He’s hoping more doctors will start referring pregnant women to the local hospital.

He also said patients who need radiology and orthopedics often go elsewhere. He’d like that to change, too.

Cascade already has some things going for it.

In Arlington, the hospital now has the EPIC program in records, so they can be shared with many other medical institutions. It also offers hospitalists, which help patients navigate the system.

Since it’s now part of Skagit, it is connected to Children’s Hospital, Swedish Hospital, the Cancer Care Alliance and the University of Washington Medical Center. It also partners with the Breast Institute in Mount Vernon and the Smokey Point Medical Center. Overlake and Providence also are partners.

“We’re a good community hospital that now’s become regional,” Liepman said, explaining why it’s no longer small. He said it’s almost like being treated elsewhere, without the stressful commute.

“They’re all on speed dial,” he said.

If patients do need to go somewhere else for a special procedure they can. “But then they can go old school and do the rest at home,” he said.

The CEO would like to partner with even more medical professionals.

“We don’t want to put all of our eggs in one basket,” he said. “We only partner with the best.”