A strongly worded statement calling for the immediate dismissal of the lead administrators at Estes Park Health outweighed about 45 minutes of budget talk during Wednesday’s EPH board meeting.
A five-minute prepared statement by retired emergency room physician Tomas Leigh appeared to take board members by surprise, particularly when about 20 community members in the audience burst into applause after Leigh completed speaking.
“This hospital administration should be dismissed,” Leigh said, citing the hospital’s loss of market share, the loss of services, including pediatric, OB, the senior center, home health, and hospice.” In addition, Leigh spoke about how the administration did not provide for physician input into the hospital system, poor physician recruitment and retention, and what he said was a “dysfunctional management style.”
Leigh talked about EPH having a “demoralized hospital staff, management’s antagonistic relations especially with physicians, hostile disrespect communication with medical and hospital staff, and needless conflict with the EPH Foundation.”
Leigh cited the fact that no community needs assessment had been conducted and that operations of the hospital has been chaotic due to the leadership team which has caused “unnecessary strife among the hospital staff” and that under the current management, there had been a decline in quality of care.
Only two board members responded to his request to provide opinions on his statement.
“I prefer not to respond,” said board vice chair Drew Webb who attended the meeting virtually.
Chair Batey was more vocal. “I don’t agree with your analysis, and I don’t agree with your recommendations. So there. You have my response.”
At that point, Batey abruptly called for the meeting to be adjourned.
EPH 2025 budget
Prior to the public comment period when Leigh spoke, board members reviewed a complete 2025 budget package for the first time before a public audience, even though CEO Vern Carda noted the budget had previously been discussed at the Dec. 10 finance subcommittee meeting. Anticipated in the coming year is a 6% increase in service fees and a 5% increase in urgent care fees.
Board treasurer Steve Alper prefaced CFO Aysha Douglas’s presentation of the financial package by noting there would be a 2.8% reduction in the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, that insurance is anticipated to increase by 9% and a 4% increase in staff salaries has been included in the 2025 budget.
To assist in achieving a balanced budget, Douglas said EPH plans to hold operating expenses at the same level as spent in 2024 and reduce contract labor so total loss will only be about $2.6 million, she said.
According to Batey, a conflicting workload related to affiliation activities has consumed “an enormous amount of time and energy, and at the same time, the staff has had to work on the budget, and so it’s been hard to be able to do both of those at the same time.”
Actual passage of the budget was delayed because Batey said written objections to the budget were received at 3:50 p.m., which was too late in the day for the board of directors to fully understand them. He called for an 8 a.m. Friday, Dec. 13 virtual special meeting to consider the objections, resolutions to adopt the 2025 budget, and appropriate funds for the 2025 budget, as well as determine the mill levy yield as required by state law.
That meeting, called an “addendum meeting,” is listed on the Estes Park Health website. To register to attend online, click here. In order to attend, individuals must submit their name and email address and a message on the registration form reads, “By clicking this button, you submit your information to the webinar organizer, who will use it to communicate with you regarding this event and their other services.”
Public board meetings are intended so the public can speak out. The abrupt retaliation by Mr. Batey speaks for it self.
Bullying us is not going to stop us!
I previously had been quiet, but I am finally willing to at least put my two cents out there. I have worked at EPH for over a decade. I tend to just mind my own business; I aim to aide patients to the best of my professional ability, spread kindness and joy, and collect my pay check. There is so much that I could say about how unprofessional, poor, and ugly the environment has become since Mr. Carda joined the organization. The story below was the tipping point for me and when I realized the hospital was in trouble:
A few years back we had an unfortunate incident where a transient, homeless man with psychiatric disabilities gained access to the hospital through a propped open door when facility management was carrying supplies inside for a renovation. When the immediate word went out it was also shared that he was thought to be armed and dangerous. We went into immediate lockdown, called the police, and tried to find out where this individual was in the hospital. We found out he was in the administrative suite. He had taken a coffee and departed the campus.
As this chaotic situation was unfolding I went down to the executive office area of the hospital to see if everything was ok and if anyone was harmed or robbed. There was only one other employee in that area of the hospital and that person was fine. I asked where Mr. Carda was and that person simply said, “Racing Mr. Batey and the police to campus to pretend like he had been here and has a handle on the situation.” Just then, we hear screeching tires and look out the window. It was Mr. Carda drifting into the parking lot going at least 60 miles per hour. It was 10:20 AM.
Mr. Carda simply should not be in this role. I do not know him well enough to make indictments of his character but I do know that his subpar work is responsible for financial hardships, total disregard of compassionate care, and poor health for the community at large. His tenure has been an utter failure in every metric.
Lets move on so we can be healthy and happy enough to not bicker anymore.
I would just like to point out that I find it fitting that Vern dresses like Han Solo.
… Scoundrels who get by swindling others while rocking cool vests and sorority boots. What a town.
I attended the Board Meeting on 12/11 and completely agree with the comments made by Dr Leigh. He succinctly listed several, but probably not all, of the reasons that both the Board and Administration of EPH should all resign immediately. His list of reasons is truthful and accurate and to which I concur.
I think it would benefit Estes Park citizens for his comments to be published in entirety, if possible. Thank you, Dr Leigh.
I think some of these board members are on a power trip and forgetting that it’s the patients and citizens of Estes Park who are being harmed. No town with a hospital that has the aged demographic that Estes Park has should ever be without hospice care. That’s just unconscionable and cruel. Also, if you alienate your doctors and staff, you’re going to affect patient care which is inevitably going to lead to lawsuits. That’s an expense that you really don’t want.
There have been several posts about Vern’s inaccessibility and attendance. When I started working there, the Administration Suite was always accessible. If a staff member needed to ask a quick question of Larry, we could just walk in and speak to his secretary, Julie. She would say “go ahead and stick your head in” if he was available, or tell us to come back later or make an appointment if he couldn’t be disturbed. My friend who still works there tells me that since Vern arrived, he changed the system so that when you walk up to the Admin suite, you are greeted with a locked door. Virtually no employee’s badge will work on that door, and nobody has the code. You have to knock on the door and hope his secretary is sitting at her desk, but she rarely is. So you can’t call because they don’t answer the phone, and you can’t email because Vern doesn’t return emails. If you try to walk in, you encounter a locked door. If the secretary is not sitting there, no one will answer the door. What a way to run a community hospital.
Maybe this is a good way to hide the fact that Vern is never there? For fun, next time you are in the hospital, try to speak to the CEO and see if you are able to do so.