Dear Community,

By now, you should have received your ballot for the upcoming November election. If you’ve been reading the news, you know that an initiative is being put forth for your consideration — Ballot Measures 6A and 6B. These questions ask you to consider forming a county-wide Health Services District to provide EMS/Ambulance completely separate and independent from the hospital and funding it through a 2.5 property tax mill levy.

You may wonder why this is on the ballot. The answer is because providing 24/7/365 Emergency Medical Services is expensive and often results in a lot of uncompensated (i.e., not paid for) care.

Some history: A total of 136 rural hospitals have ceased operating since 2010, according to the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research. Rural hospital closures hit a record high in 2020 because of COVID-19 and negative financial operating margins. Nearly 700 more rural hospitals are at risk of closing right now.

For MRH, we are still here and that requires the difficult management choices and the fiscal responsibility that has kept our doors open. MRH continues to provide quality healthcare services for this community under extremely difficult financial, staffing and social challenges.

For many years, MRH has managed EMS services for the majority of the region. A year ago, the Board of Trustees asked that we look for options for moving EMS into a Health Services District. The Board understands the hesitation that some may have with providing additional tax support to MRH, so they agreed that forming an independent entity and transferring all EMS care to the new entity made the most sense.

If the voters pass Ballot Measures 6A and 6B, MRH will donate all of the EMS assets to the newly formed district (close to $900,000 in ambulances and equipment), and MRH will no longer run the ambulance service. MRH will provide the new entity with limited support for a limited time until the newly formed district can find other options.

Let me restate this again here: MRH is only offering to provide limited and temporary administrative assistance until the new special EMS district can establish its own administrative team and personnel functions. 

We want to be a resource and support to a new health service district if it is approved in November. Our goal is not to provide long-term HR or administrative assistance. We do understand, however, that it may take time to get the new district running. MRH would never leave the EMTs who work tirelessly to serve this community high and dry. This is merely a bridge until the district can be 100% independent from MRH.

MRH neither seeks any direct monetary gain, nor the responsibility for maintaining EMS in the county.

EMS services in Moffat County have moved through many hands over the decades because it is a very challenging service to oversee. The proposed health service district is an opportunity for Moffat County to secure these vital, lifesaving services and finally get assurance that EMS will have the needed resources to serve the community without needing to change hands once again or cut services.

Sincerely,
Andrew J. Daniels, MHA, FACHE
Chief Executive Officer