September 25, 2024 |
Photo – Hospital district meeting in Hanna – by Matt Copeland Bigfoot99
County and municipal officials recently discussed the economic impact of losing Memorial Hospital of Carbon County if the facility were forced to close its doors.
This November, voters in Rawlins, Sinclair, Hanna, and unincorporated areas of north and west Carbon County will decide if a taxpayer funded hospital district will be created. If passed, the hospital district will impose a three-mill property tax levy to help pay for building maintenance and equipment purchases at the Rawlins medical facility.
Providing healthcare has become more expensive across the country. Memorial Hospital of Carbon County is the only hospital in Wyoming without an additional funding source, outside of seeing patients. The hospital district is needed to ensure that Memorial Hospital can continue to operate in the same capacity into the future.
Memorial Hospital staff are holding a series of meetings to educate the public about the importance of the hospital district.
So far, the conversation has focused on the medical services offered to the county through the centrally-located hospital in Rawlins and the necessity of having a local trauma center for residents and people traveling along Interstate 80.
During the September 18th Carbon County Council of Governments meeting in Hanna, Memorial Hospital Director of Strategic Operations Stephanie Hinkle explained that people must also consider the economic effect the closure of the hospital will have on the area.
The hospital building was constructed in 1972. Keeping the aging facility running costs over $1 million a year. Hinkle said the expected $1.5 million generated yearly by the hospital district will help Memorial Hospital remain operational, and perhaps in the future, construct a new building and offer additional medical procedures, such as dialysis.
Hinkle acknowledged that not all Memorial Hospital’s financial troubles stem from maintaining the 52-year-old building.
The strategic operations director told the audience that hospital staff and the board of trustees are looking for different ways to run the facility more efficiently. Administrators must adopt a new way of thinking to ensure the hospital remains in business.
New ideas are needed to bring Memorial Hospital back from the brink. Hinkle said billing has been a problem in the past. A new company has helped the hospital recover some of the missing revenue, but MHCC needs more time to recover.
Hinkle said Memorial Hospital of Carbon County is undergoing a substantial change to the way it does business. While the hospital district won’t fix everything, Hinkle said the added funds will give hospital administrators more time to correct what the money can fix.
Hanna Mayor Jayson Nordquist asked Hinkle if the hospital district would still be necessary if Memorial Hospital had been managed correctly in the past. Hinkle said in her opinion, the increased costs and complexities of rural healthcare made the hospital district an inevitability.
Mayor Nordquist said the general perception of Memorial Hospital is that it has been poorly managed for decades. The Hanna mayor asked how the hospital district will fix the facility’s administrative issues.
Rawlins Mayor Terry Weickum explained that mocking the hospital’s financial troubles is a common occurrence. However, Mayor Weickum said in his opinion, Memorial Hospital has been run well.
Hanna Town Clerk Vivian Gonzales asked Hinkle what will happen if the hospital district fails during November’s general election. If the measure fails, Hinkle said, the board of trustees will petition county commissioners to add the hospital district to a future ballot.
In the meantime, without the added income from the district, Memorial Hospital will have to seriously scale back operations.
The creation of the Memorial Hospital of Carbon County hospital district will be on Rawlins, Sinclair, and Hanna voters’ ballots this November. Voters in those areas will also select a five-person board of directors to manage the hospital district, assuming the measure passes.
Carbon County Higher Education Center is hosting a hospital district board of directors candidates forum on Tuesday, October 8th, beginning at 6:00 pm.
