We would like to send out our appreciation to everyone who voted in this year’s election. Unfortunately, at 58.29% the Hospital District’s Special Levy is 18 votes short of the necessary 60%. It is unlikely that enough votes will come in before the election is certified to change the result of the election.

The failure of the levy will create a significant challenge for the Hospital District but one we are ready to take head on. Our focus for the rest of the year and into 2020 will be to offer quality healthcare to our community while working on ways to increase revenue. We will continue our efforts for strategic planning to look for the best options and configurations to provide stability, financial viability, and consistency in healthcare. The Board of Commissioners and hospital leadership will continue to look for neighboring facilities that may provide strategic benefit to the District.

Current strategies are to recruit two new mid-level providers with the goal to have three fulltime providers to rotate between the Clinic and ER coverage. This would reduce the amount of provider turnover and significantly decrease the cost of staffing our emergency room. We are working to get enrolled in the 340B program which is a pharmacy program that will save us money on drugs resulting in increased revenue. We are considering a program to help boost our Medicare swing bed program, the most profitable portion of our operations. We are hopeful this will create more financial stability but it will not eliminate the need for additional tax support.

We feel the Hospital District has made great strides as an organization over the last few years and we will not let that progress stop. It is the desire of the Board and hospital leadership to keep healthcare services local for all community members, especially the elderly, so they can stay close to their family, friends, churches, and the community they love.

We need the support of the community now more than ever while we work to establish quality sustainable healthcare for the community.