The Park Hospital District board of directors is one step closer to straightening out financial obligations following a series of special meetings held this month.
On Wednesday, the PHD board voted to send UCHealth $44,417.97 from unspent revenues received in December 2025, the first month medical services were separated from the special taxing district’s administrative expenditures.
As required by the affiliation agreement with UCHealth, the district may retain up to $200,000 annually for expenses, with any unexpended funds at the end of a fiscal year to be turned over to UCHealth for ongoing operating costs of the Estes Valley Medical Center.
UCHealth officially became the medical center services provider on Dec. 1, 2025.
The amount to be provided to UCHealth was calculated on a cash basis, showing that the district received $46,345.72 in property tax revenues in December but wrote checks for administrative expenses totaling only $1,927.75. Also received was a $249,900 payment from UCHealth, allocated solely to cover outstanding liabilities, including severance obligations.
Issues centering on the district’s financial obligations in relation to the affiliation agreement with UCHealth came to light in February when it became apparent that the district’s expenditures in 2026 likely would far outstrip the $200,000 affiliation-approved allocation to cover administrative costs.
Since then, the Park Hospital District has been in conversations with UCHealth to determine which organization is responsible for expenses incurred since January 1 and what expenses PHD will incur prior to the end of 2026. In some cases, the projected cost overruns are due to unbudgeted or underbudgeted expenses as approved by the PHD board in December.
Inaccurate or unanticipated budget expenses include approximately $18,000 to terminate Medicare cost reports and directors and officers insurance, and $163,000 in legal fees and administrative costs related to the UCHealth retirement plan managed by Ascensus, a financial services firm that provides tax-advantaged savings and retirement plan services.
According to information recently provided during a special board meeting, Ascensus costs cannot be accurately anticipated because invoices are based on how many people still participate in the retirement investment plan that had been offered by Estes Park Health prior to the acquisition. However, Ascensus invoices are currently expected to be about $22,000 more than anticipated.
According to board chairman Cory Workman, “We have a legal requirement to contact every single person that has ever contributed to that retirement plan, and some people may have been gone from EPH for over 20 years.” The district is contacting those people through its legal advisors, Hall Render.
In the meantime, the Park Hospital District is invoiced based on the number of still-active accounts. While $50,000 was budgeted for management fees, Workman explained that additional expenses are anticipated. One expense that will be incurred after all participants receive official notice is an Internal Revenue Service audit, which must be completed before the fund can be closed.
This is an unusual year due to transition costs, and the budget will not be this large in 2027.
In another action on Wednesday, the board approved completed work to transfer all district-related documentation from the EPH website to the new Park Hospital District website. Future internal work is expected to include posting other PHD documents, including the budget, audit, policies, resolutions, and public comments.