Health Care & Insurance  January 30, 2025

Estes hospital board’s role likely to change with UCHealth partnership

ESTES PARK — The makeup and responsibilities of the Park Hospital District’s governing board are likely to change if its partnership with UCHealth becomes official, the district said this week in a news release.

The Park Hospital District, which operates the nonprofit Estes Park Health medical center, signed a letter of intent in October to join UCHealth this year. That agreement has yet to be finalized, however, and details are subject to change.

If the deal is completed, Estes Park Health would become a more traditional nonprofit organization, and Estes Park Health would create its own, nonprofit hospital board of directors. This board is expected to be made up of Estes Park community members, board members nominated by the district board, and UCHealth leaders. The nonprofit board would help oversee the hospital’s operations, provider credentialing, quality, safety and overall performance.

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The Estes Park Health board would be separate from the Park Hospital District board, district officials said.

The Park Hospital District would continue as a special taxing district, helping to generate revenues to support local health care operations and improvements. The district board would oversee the taxing district, but oversight of the hospital would transfer to the new EPH board.

The period for self-nomination for the Park Hospital District Board is now open and will run through Feb. 20, with the election scheduled for May 6.

“Serving on the Park Hospital Board is an important responsibility that helps improve the health of our entire community,” Vern Carda, Estes Park Health CEO, said in a prepared statement. “We want to encourage this service while also letting anyone interested in a position know that the board’s responsibilities will change as we plan to join UCHealth.”

Estes Park Health and its board of directors are working to define the agreement that will allow EPH to join UCHealth. As the due diligence process continues, board members and hospital leaders say they are optimistic that the agreement will be finalized over the coming months.

“UCHealth leaders and the dedicated EPH board members are making progress toward this important partnership that will strengthen the health-care services offered in our town and local communities,” Carda said. “Though we are all anxious to finalize the agreement quickly, we know the time spent now is important and will benefit patients for decades to come.”

The hospital’s directors had been in discussions with other health care organizations about affiliation, driven by the increasing demands of economic and market forces on smaller hospitals. Voters in the hospital district approved a ballot measure in May 2023 that authorized the board to enter into a multi-year financial agreement if it decided to affiliate with a larger nonprofit health care services organization.

According to the tentative agreement, UCHealth will invest more than $30 million into the hospital and the Estes Park community in the coming years, helping recruit new staff members and stabilizing Estes Park Health’s finances.

In the letter of intent, which was signed Oct. 3, UCHealth also committed to evaluating opportunities to expand access to virtual health programs and behavioral health services.

More than half of Estes Park Health’s patients are covered by Medicare or Medicaid or are uninsured, according to a UCHealth news release, which added that “UCHealth, the state’s largest provider of Medicaid, is committed to continuing EPH’s care for patients who may have more difficulty accessing health care.”

Working with UCHealth is nothing new for Estes Park Health. For decades, the medical center and clinics have partnered with UCHealth, especially Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins and Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland to provide resources that benefit patients and the community.

As hospitals across the nation have been challenged in recent years by dramatically increasing expenses, rising uncompensated care and minimal increases in reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid, Estes Park Health has been challenged to maintain its services.

In late 2023, the Park Hospital District board voted unanimously to transfer some services to other companies while adding and optimizing other services. Among the major changes were contracting out home health, home care and outpatient hospice operation, as well as housekeeping duties. It also approved transferring or reducing obstetrics services.

As of last fall, Estes Park Health had net operating revenue of more than $60 million, 320 employees, 23 inpatient beds and 22 physicians and advanced-practice providers.

It was founded in 1975 as Elizabeth Knutsson Memorial Hospital via a tax subsidy approved by Estes Park voters.

UCHealth includes 34,000 employees, 14 acute-care hospitals, more than 200 clinic locations and hundreds of physicians across Colorado, southern Wyoming and western Nebraska.

The makeup and responsibilities of the Park Hospital District’s governing board are likely to change if its partnership with UCHealth becomes official, the district said this week in a news release.

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With BizWest since 2012 and in Colorado since 1979, Dallas worked at the Longmont Times-Call, Colorado Springs Gazette, Denver Post and Public News Service. A Missouri native and Mizzou School of Journalism grad, Dallas started as a sports writer and outdoor columnist at the St. Charles (Mo.) Banner-News, then went to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch before fleeing the heat and humidity for the Rockies. He especially loves covering our mountain communities.
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