The Telluride Regional Medical Center (TMC) is thankful to our community members, donors, patients, and local municipalities for the overwhelming support to pass 6A last fall to help us shore up our financial situation. We continue to seek solutions to the challenges of rural healthcare operations in 2024, but we are proud to report that the overall health of TMC is far greater than it was a year ago. We continue to work to provide world-class healthcare to our communities, build upon the progress that 2024 has brought to our organization, and seek solutions to be the most sustainable business we can be.
“Last year at this time we were faced with a financial crisis that put the delivery of vital services at risk. Thanks to the incredible support of our community, we were able to bridge the funding gap and continue offering the services all the people need and deserve. Now our focus has turned to streamlining operations, improving our revenue cycle management, and maximizing the care we provide now until we are able to build a new medical facility to last for decades,” said former Interim CEO and current Director of Trauma and Emergency Services, Diana Koelliker, M.D.
Over the course of last year, when we began to dig into the underlying issues behind our financial shortfalls, it became clear that our reimbursements from both private and government insurers were not adequate for the services we were providing. In late 2023 we partnered with a new company to oversee our reimbursements and revenue from insurers. In the rather short time they have been working with us, reimbursements have improved significantly, and things continue to improve. In fact, March of 2024 was our highest grossing revenue month in the history of TMC and we have collected over $1 million of old charges that were missed by our previous revenue vendor.
Our forward momentum continued this year, when the Board of Directors hired Jeff Roberts as our new Executive Director. Jeff brings more than 25 years of healthcare leadership experience, and an understanding of the Telluride area as a longtime second homeowner in Mountain Village. Shortly after, Robbi Hudson joined the team as our new Finance Director. Robbi has extensive knowledge of healthcare finance and has helped us better navigate the current healthcare climate. Jeff and Robbi continue to identify ways to run TMC as efficiently and sustainably as possible, while also keeping an eye on the culture of the med center that makes it so special.
“I am excited to be in Telluride full time and working with our exceptional leadership team” says Jeff Roberts, TMC Executive Director. “We have a strong mix of seasoned veterans and new team members who are all committed to making TMC the most sustainable and efficient business model we can be with the challenges we face, while providing top-quality healthcare for our community. We cannot move into a new facility without addressing every opportunity in our current building.”
In March of this year, we received the first of our increased mill levy funds thanks to the community support for passing 6A. Since then, we have been hard at work putting these funds into the areas of the organization that need them most. Our first order of business was to address staff recruitment and retention. We conducted a thorough wage survey to ensure that our team is paid a fair market wage, and implemented a wellness benefit to encourage our staff to take care of themselves when they are not taking care of our community. There has also been a focus to update our current building and equipment. Though not glamorous, we have made multiple improvements to our IT infrastructure, shoring up everything from cyber security to patient experience.
A year ago, staff were concerned about job security. Fast forward a year later, all of these efforts by our leadership team and Board of Directors have created a noticeable improvement in employee morale. This is vital in carrying out our mission to fulfill the responsibility to provide exceptional, accessible, and comprehensive care to all people that need us.
“The employee morale has made a complete turnaround from where it was this time last year. Our patients notice a significant difference in the positive energy when you enter the building, and we can see this reflected in our surveys,” shares Dr. Sharon Grundy, TMC’s Primary Care Medical Director. “This transformation is largely due to the stability brought about by the increased financial security from the passage of 6A, and the enhanced stability of leadership. Our staff is not just coping but thriving.”
Another exciting undertaking has been the hiring of a national consulting firm, Moss Adams, to conduct a diagnostic of our existing practice and a study for future planning. This includes a deep dive into our current operations, a study of the healthcare services that locals seek outside of TMC, and a statistical analysis of what type of future facility would be most financially viable. Their report will include what services should be provided by TMC in the future to make our facility sustainable. The end goal of the study will be to balance what we can do to provide the best possible care to our patients while also remaining economically sound. In the coming months, we will share the findings of this report and we cannot wait to present this to our community.
The Telluride Medical Center Foundation (TMCF) now has the luxury to focus on enhancing what TMC can and will do, rather than shoring up current operations. As everyone is aware, workforce housing is a major issue and TMCF is now the funding arm of TMC’s housing program. Our housing committee is working to ensure housing is at the center of our employee recruitment and retention efforts. Last month, we closed on our first workforce housing unit, which was immediately occupied by a lab tech who was at risk of leaving because she could not find a place to live. We have one more unit under contract that will be coming online later in the year and the TMC housing committee continues to identify which properties and projects can best meet our housing needs moving forward.
“Housing is the next step on the path forward to a new facility. We are diligently working with all municipalities and the private sector to identify any and all housing options and funding sources,” said Clifford Hansen, Board President of the Telluride Medical Center Foundation. There are plenty of challenges ahead, but we know that we can identify and address issues within the organization in a timely and responsible manner thanks to the great work from the united leadership of the Telluride Hospital District Board of Directors, the TMC Senior Leadership Team, and the Telluride Medical Center Foundation Board and staff. There is still plenty of work to be done to become the med center we strive to be, but the momentum is on our side.
For more information about Telluride Regional Medical Center, please visit tellmed.org.
