What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope
At the conclusion of a meeting that lasted just over an hour, Board of Directors at Haxtun Health voted to approve two contracts: one to purchase land from the Town of Haxtun and the second to extend an employment contract with Chief Executive Officer Dewane Pace. The two votes, approved unanimously, came at the end of a Monday, March 22 meeting in the upstairs meeting room of the Extended Care Unit.
Haxtun Health is now under contract with the Town of Haxtun to purchase property located behind town hall, which includes the truck barn, lean-to and a portion of property behind town hall and the library, for a total of $200,000. Per the contract, within two years, the Town of Haxtun will also vacate the current shop and donate that building and land to Haxtun Health.
The area included in the purchase contract will allow for a staging area of supplies and materials for construction of a new main street clinic, currently underway. Haxtun Health purchased the old Smith Hardware building in the fall of 2020 and plan to construct a new, two-story building in its place that will house a clinic as well as space for other services.
Once the new building is complete, the property included in the contract that has now been signed by both Haxtun Health and the Town of Haxtun, will allow for parking at the new clinic for both employees and patients.
According to Julia Biesemeier, Chief Community Relations Officer, construction drawings for the main street project are nearing completion so the construction team will move forward to work with the architect. Grant applications, she added, have been started and will continue into the coming weeks as she plans to attend Rural Philanthropy Days via Zoom.
Haxtun Health Board members also approved a three-year contract for Pace. Pace joined the Haxtun Health administrative team in April 2018 when he signed a three-year contract with the Board. Before approving his most recent contract, board members held a closed-door, executive session for just over 20 minutes during the April monthly meeting. That closed-door meeting also included Pace and Chief Financial Officer Joleen Stroyek.
“I would love to stay with the hospital through this new contract and hopefully sign one more engagement after this one before retiring at the end of 2027,” Pace said in later follow-up.
Later, in his report to board members, Pace gave an update on Colorado Option House Bill 20-1349, which he says is not good on many levels. The bill, he said, seeks to lower the cost of healthcare by letting the Government set rates for payment. The measure of success for this Bill is a reduction in insurance premiums and if those premiums are not reduced by the insurance companies, payments to hospitals will be reduced.
“Hospitals do not have any control over the rates that insurance companies charge their customers,” Pace said. “Hospitals stand to lose and some may close if this bill is passed.”
Pace said the Eastern Plains Healthcare Consortium and the Colorado Rural Health Center have both come up with an opposed position to the bill and the Colorado Hospital Association has opted to attempt dialogue with the bill’s sponsors, who are Representative Dylan Roberts and Senator Kerry Donovan. If that dialogue is unsuccessful, the CHA might quickly move to an opposed position on the bill.
“This is not the answer,” Pace said.
Pace also updated the Board on the recent resignation of Jason Sizer as Director of Pharmacy Services. Pace said Sizer will be moving out of the area, but pans to stay on part-time to help cover vacations and other pharmacy needs. Haxtun Health is currently conducting interviews for a new Pharmacy Director.
In other business:
• CFO Stroyek reported positive figures for both in-patient and swing bed departments, both coming in over budget for the month, year-to-date and over this time last year. The ECU, she said, is under budget by 19 percent for the month and negative 23 percent for the year. Clinic visits, per her statistics, were 19 percent under budget for the month and year as well;
• As of the meeting date, no staff members were out due to COVID-19 and there were no patients in either portion of the facility with the virus;
• More than 1,100 COVID-19 vaccinations have been given through Haxtun Health as of the meeting date;
• Pace said the infrastructure at the Haxtun Health main campus began on Monday, March 22. A large crane will be parked in the west front parking lot and will begin to remove the blue metal panels from the roof of the administration building. New roof units will then be installed followed by a new roof as part of phase one of the project that has been fully funded by the Department of Local Affairs. Pace also said patient room 102 has been completely remodeled as part of an effort to improve the overall patient experience. The employee dining room has also re-opened follow a remodel including new space for social distancing as well as new floors, walls, lighting, cabinetry and furniture.
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