MEEKER | The Eastern Rio Blanco County Health Service District (Pioneers Medical Center) Hospital Board held its monthly public meeting last Tuesday, with all board members present.
The boardroom was filled with community members seeking answers, as well as some current medical staff showing support for the administration at Pioneers Medical Center.
The meeting began with Board President Mark Schryver informing attendees they could not sit in on the monthly financials meeting, which some community members identified as a violation of Colorado’s Sunshine Laws. After attendees were allowed back into the meeting room, Board President Mark Schryver explained the January financial report and justified the decision to keep the financial meeting private, stating that the financial meetings are not public due to the complexity of discussions, which often involve insurance details and outstanding payments.
The financial report shared verbally during the public portion of the meeting and emailed to the HT in response to an open records request for financial documents shared with the board at the meeting stated: “For the month of January, Pioneers Medical Center reported $174,000 in negative net income. Year to date, that remains at a negative $174,000, largely due to multiple surgeries being canceled and rescheduled because of patient illness,” Schryver said. “Decoding and billing of accounts across both legacy and current systems continues, with over $5.3 million collected for the month. Gross revenue was below budget by 33% for both the month and year, while expenses remained flat compared to the monthly budget. Expenses were flat when compared to the monthly budget at 0% and the prior month also by 0%. The increases are located in employed benefits, contract labor, professional fees, and purchased services.”
“That’s a summary of what we were going over with the financial committee report this morning,” Schryver added. “I just want to say that when we get into the financial reporting, it’s a lot of detail. We talk about the insurance company and there’s a lot of background information that you need to know to understand it, and that’s part of the reason it’s not a public thing. And we get into AR [accounts receivable] and what money is still owed to the hospital. So it just really can’t be a public report. I hope you understand that,” Schryver explained.
In response, Sherri Halandras, who worked at PMC for more than 20 years, criticized the board’s meeting practices.
“I started to go back and look at the ordinance, which are very minimal, and every meeting there’s an executive session, and it doesn’t say specifically why, and it is not recorded. I’ve also served on the fire district board for two terms with Wade and this morning there was a quorum,” stated Halandras.
“This is why I chose to speak, because I got here and we aren’t allowed in here, yet you have a quorum of board members, so I question your transparency. I don’t think it’s intentional, but I believe that there is a big lack of transparency, to withhold people from a meeting where there are five board members and a quorum present, that’s not legal. If it’s just the board members and whoever else to represent is behind closed doors, even if they’re speaking about the session, you have to state that in your minutes. You don’t state that.” she added.
Halandras is correct, according to Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition executive director Jeff Roberts. His response to a question from the HT regarding the closed financial portion of the meeting is as follows: “The hospital board cannot exclude the public from any portion of its meetings without convening a properly authorized executive session during the public portion of the meeting. There is no authorization in the open meetings law that lets a board exclude the public from a discussion about district financial matters because the board president thinks those discussions are too complex. The district’s financial matters are linked to the board’s policy-making powers, which is how the Colorado Supreme Court defined “public business” in 2004. And in response to a CORA request for the financial documents being discussed, the hospital district must disclose the actual documents – not a typed-up summary – unless it can show that an exemption in the law allows the withholding of those records.”
Community member Wendy Gutierrez also spoke, and presented the board with a list of 24 questions generated from an informal community meeting she organized earlier this month at the library (see below). During Tuesday’s meeting, she shared her appreciation for hospital staff while voicing concerns about hospital leadership. She referenced PMC’s “Grow Your Own” program, designed to ensure local staffing, and criticized current management for replacing long-standing local staff with outside hires. Looking back, Gutierrez recalled how much pride the community had during the hospital’s groundbreaking on March 21, 2014.
Citizens’ questions presented to the PMC board
1. What is the turnover rate for all employees at PMC?
2. Do you have breakdown of this per department?
3. What are the staffing ratios of traveling temps to full-time local staff?
4. How many employees are contracted under 1099 at PMC in each department (including Ovation)?
5. Since COVID and the influx of needing traveling staff, can you tell us the difference per hour a traveler makes including the cost of their housing?
6. Post-COVID, why is the reliance on traveling staff still considered appropriate?
7. Given the challenges in hiring qualified personnel, we seek to understand why PMC continues to utilize traveling staff. If retaining skilled staff is a struggle, wouldn’t it be more effective to invest in team building and ongoing education?
8. Is the hospital utilizing Federal grant funding to subsidize the costs associated with traveling staff?
9. What is the annual cost of the management company, Ovation, and when does the contract renew?
10. What is the employee turnover rate specifically at PMC?
11. What is the current cash on hand amount?
12. When did the board establish the policy requiring patients without medical insurance to prepay for services at the clinic?
13. Does PMC have employees working remotely? If so, how many and in which departments?
14. Is it appropriate for some employees to work remotely when staff were previously informed that remote work was discontinued?
15. How many employees are commuting from long distances to their jobs?
16. Are there any ongoing legal cases involving the CEO since her employment began?
17. How many cease and desist letters has this administration sent out?
18. What efforts has PMC made to engage with the local community and gather input on healthcare needs?
19. Does PMC have data on the number of patients who have transferred their care to other area hospitals? Has PMC reached out to these patients to understand their reasons?
20. Why are pre-operative referrals outsourced, and where are they sent?
21. What happened to the “Grow Your Own” program?
22. What happened to employee recognition and the pinning ceremonies that used to happen that used to be published in the paper?
23. What percentage of hospital employees are in direct contact with patients (hands-on)?
24. What percentage of those employees are currently engaged with providing direct patient care?
Gutierrez read a 1950 letter from Freeman Fairfield to Richard Lyttle, former editor of the Herald Times, in which Fairfield emphasized that the hospital should prioritize patient care over politics and personal interests.
“Mr. Fairfield says, ‘It’s my belief that the Pioneers Hospital should be maintained and operated to relieve suffering and save lives. Friendship, politics, religion, personal power and personal glory should never enter the picture in the least.’ Mr. Fairfield believed in the people of this valley and had every reason to hope that his financial insurance and the interest and the well being of the citizens would be taken care of,’’ stated Gutierrez.
She criticized CEO Liz Sellers and PMC management for instability, understaffing, and high turnover, claiming local employees were being pushed out and replaced with short-term staff. Those policies have added to high turnover and many nurses leaving within months. She asserted that the management at PMC uses intimidation to silence the staff, and has blamed them for staffing issues.
Gutierrez brought up how former PMC employees are quickly being hired by other hospitals that are 40-50 miles away, bringing up doubts about the claims that they were unfit for healthcare roles. The swift employment elsewhere has led to other hospitals questioning what is happening at PMC. Gutierrez brought up concerns about transparency, and cited a lack of public meeting agendas, minimal minutes, and excessive executive sessions that violate taxpayer expectations.
“I’m only hoping that a culture change at Pioneers can take place. If we can bring our kids back home, they can have jobs here,” she said. “Our hospital’s priority should be first, patients; second, access; third, quality; and fourth, affordability.”
Sellers did not respond to Gutierrez’s remarks and quietly sat back in her chair. Instead, several staff members defended the hospital and the administration.They acknowledged that every workplace has areas to improve, but denounced claims of a “toxic culture” at PMC. Some criticized the community members making those claims, and suggested personal grievances are unfairly harming the hospital and its staff, who are all dedicated to serving the community.
“People like me are taking it extremely personally because I’ve got staff that walk away from this hospital, and they’re getting bombarded out in public,” said Kristofer Borchard. “They can’t go to a volleyball game with their daughter without people coming up and talking about toxicity—that’s unfair to my staff.”
Dr. Justin Grant also pushed back against criticism.
“To say it’s toxic or to make all these retaliation insinuations is just blatantly false,” Grant said. “In fact, this has a very personal feel to it, which is very unprofessional. You claim you’re here to support us, but what you’re doing is hurting all of us.”
After back and forth comments by both the community and the hospital staff, the board moved on to approve credentials for Dr. Rhett Griggs and nurse practitioner Jona Ely. CEO Liz Sellers highlighted that the pharmacy will be relocating into the board room to expand its services and offerings. The project is set to begin in April, so the meeting for April and moving forward will be in the back hall in the training room.
She also mentioned that they hired a new dietary director and are excited for all the new options that she will bring to the community. CNO Janelle Borchard presented the hospital update, saying they are excited about the hiring of Dr. Meyers, an orthopedic surgeon who will be starting in August. At the next meeting they plan to present some changes to their surgery staff before he is brought on board. They are also going to launch a CNA course in April 2025 at Meeker High School which will be taking place in the evening, with an additional daytime session in June.
After the updates, the board entered into executive session under Title 24 to receive legal counsel. The next board meeting is scheduled for March 25 at 9 a.m. in the boardroom.
what were the answers to the questions posted
The great majority went unanswered. We’d be glad to publish clear responses to each question if we receive them.