NCMC sale impact to be felt outside of health care

GREELEY — Banner Health now officially owns all of Greeley’s North Colorado Medical Center. It bought Weld County’s remaining stake in the hospital for $328.4 million. The deal was approved by Attorney General Phil Weiser Oct. 2. But what does that mean for the average person in Greeley?

Folks will feel the impact of the sale outside the realm of health care. Inside health care, patients probably won’t notice a difference.

Margo Karsten, CEO for Banner Health in Northern Colorado, said Banner is still a nonprofit health-care system dedicated to serving the underserved.

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“Banner has always been a leader in serving underserved patients,” Karsten said in an interview.

On the back end of things, the sale will allow NCMC to pay off debt — to the tune of $209.5 million.

It will also give Banner more decision-making agility, Karsten said.

In the past, business decisions had to go through the NCMC Inc. board, Karsten said, which could take months. It slowed the process down.

NCMC Inc. board member Tom Grant said that process often meant the board had to review the operating lease Banner had with NCMC Inc. before approving things such as equipment purchases. Other hospitals in the Banner network, such as McKee Medical Center and Banner Fort Collins Medical Center, didn’t have that red tape.

Now, Karsten said, NCMC can act more quickly to put strategies in place to do things like lowering the cost of health care.

But big changes are coming for other Weld County groups.

NCMC Inc. will get $59.5 million and the county will get $59.4 million.

NCMC Inc., the nonprofit that owned and managed NCMC’s assets and gives grants to various other nonprofits in Weld, will get a new name — the Weld Trust. The windfall will also earn it the title of one of the largest trust funds in Colorado, Grant said.

The board’s first meeting under the new name will take place Oct. 29 at NCMC. As part of the transition agreement, Grant said, the board will be able to use office space in the hospital until the end of March.

“We’re still working on putting into place what our processes will be, like how someone can apply for money from the trust and how long they should wait to hear back after applying,” Grant said.

The group has much of the general framework in place, though it will spend the next several meetings hammering out the finer details, Grant said.

Much of the group’s mission will remain the same, such as directing funds toward health and education — but it’ll have a lot more money to take on bigger projects.

“I see this as an opportunity for an organization that might want to provide hospice care or mental health care in Weld County that needs some additional funds or startup money,” Grant said.

The county’s portion of the money will breathe new life into the Bright Futures program, through which qualifying Weld County students and honorably discharged veterans pay for college or certificate programs.

The goal is to strengthen Weld through workforce development. Students can receive up to $2,000 per year for tuition if they attend a Title IV institution in Colorado or neighboring states. There are some requirements, such as completing 16 hours of community service each year, maintaining a 2.0 GPA once enrolled and filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

“Students can get an education without having to mortgage their future,” said Weston Kurz, vice president of the Bright Futures board.

The county announced the program in 2015, launching it with $15 million of taxpayer money. The plan was for private, tax deductible donations to make the fund sustainable.

According to a 2018 report in the Greeley Tribune, private donations were slow to materialize.

Sarah Rice, executive director of Bright Futures, said she thinks the endowment from the NCMC sale will change that.

“When you have that endowment set, and people can see you’ll be successful for years to come, it opens doors to the business industry,” Rice said. “They see it’s sustainable.”

It lets future donors know the program will be around for the long-term, said Dale Hall, board chair and Greeley city councilman.

That’s good news for the program, which is already setting its sights on new ways to bolster workforce development in Weld.

Bright Futures is working on a pilot program called Bright Futures Careers in Health Care, which will work to recruit students into health-care jobs such as CNAs, phlebotomists, and even jobs within hospitals such as chefs, plumbers, electricians and more.

The goal, Rice said, is to eventually create pathway programs into fields such as agriculture and oil and gas.

“It can give students hope, and that piece is important,” Kurz said. “Students who grew up in single-parent households, students who have to work, they can leverage this money to go to school for free and get good jobs.”