St. John’s Health Board of Trustees is looking at various strategies to keep the Jackson hospital afloat ahead of a fall property tax vote that could decimate its tax income.
That’s after an already tough year for rural hospitals, which battled high rates of uncompensated care and delayed federal funding that is expected to shrink from past years.
“With decreasing reimbursement and decreasing numbers of people on health insurance plans, we find ourselves having to make sure that we can stay sustainable,” Board Chair Pam Cutler told KHOL.
The board has yet to decide how it will make up for last year’s $19.4 million operating loss. But fundraising, asking voters to raise local property taxes and expanding cancer treatment are all on the table.
“The oncology program would be projected to add $1.2 million to the bottom line in year five,” said Karen Connelly, a spokesperson for St. John’s Health. “The property tax cut that’s already gone into place has reduced the tax support that we receive by more than that already.”
Cutler said it’s too early to say what other cuts or expansions to more profitable services will be made. The hospital recently saved $5 million per year by scaling back operations across 22 departments. It closed clinics in Grand Teton National Park and Lander last year.
The hospital district can legally levy up to twice what it does now, but unlike other public districts, Wyoming tax law requires that a vote to change a hospital’s mill levy go to voters. If the board pursues raising the tax, a vote could land on ballots in August or November of this year, Connelly said.
Last year, the Cowboy State slashed property taxes in response to the high inflation rates. Federal cuts to Medicaid and growing numbers of older Americans on Medicare, which has a slow reimbursement process, has worsened the problem, Cutler said.
Several public service providers, including firefighters, fire districts and libraries, have voiced concerns about the survival of their departments should any more cuts come for what they say are already cash-strapped budgets.
