At the Mancos Town Board meeting Jan. 22, Southwest Health System CEO Joe Theine updated the board on all things hospital, and “some of the conundrum about the conversations they’re having in Washington, and how that affects us.”
He specifically illustrated this through discussing the hospital’s financials for 2025.
“We expect to have about $85 million in revenue,” and most of that is contingent on people in the community “choosing to receive care somewhere in our health system,” Theine said.
Some of that figure – about $2 million – is expected to come from a sales tax, which can’t be used for anything but paying off a bond debt from building the new part of the hospital.
They’re also figuring in $4 million of “philanthropic giving,” he said.
Theine then directed the board’s attention to the screen, which had two charts on it, side by side. The pie chart on the right broke up the majority of revenue – $82,800,000 – that’s expected to come from patients alone. It shows where, exactly, it’s all coming from.
“The one number I’ll draw your attention to is 17%,” Theine said.
That’s the amount of cash the hospital expects to collect from the Medicaid program.
Theine said the new administration in Washington has “a lot of focus on cutting costs,” but not when it comes it Medicare, which funds adults 65 and older and some disabled people.
“But there’s a lot of conversation right now on how to reduce spending on Medicaid,” he said.
On President Donald Trump’s first day in office, Jan. 23, he made history by signing more than 20 executive orders, which is more than any other president had signed before.
That same day, Trump rescinded 78 executive orders that former President Joe Biden had approved.
One of those orders he rescinded helped reduce the price of prescription medications, and another helped expand coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Another yet strengthened both the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid, according to NPR.
Zooming back into our area, Theine asked the board to consider what it would be like to have roughly 20% less income coming into their household.
“If the whole Medicaid program went away – which I don’t expect that to happen – but if it did, and we had 20% less revenue effectively, it’s not about, ‘Well, we’re not going to do this for those who are less fortunate.’ It really becomes what things can’t we do,” he said.
“And everybody in the community loses,” he said.
Because without that chunk of revenue, the hospital might not be able to staff properly, or offer specialized care.
“Elon Musk could walk in the door with his checkbook and say, ‘What’s it going to cost me to get this,’” Theine said. “No amount of money in that moment when you need health care will get you what you need.”
“And so if there’s a substantial change in the Medicaid program at a federal level, that is one of the biggest threats to health care in rural communities right now,” he said.
“It won’t be a question of what things do we do less of, it will be what things can we just no longer provide,” Theine said.