Guest Column by Jeff Mengenhausen

This column was printed in the Montrose Daily Press on Saturday, March 19, 2022. Online access can be found on the Montrose Daily Press website by clicking here.

Montrose Regional Health (MRH) is a non-profit hospital whose mission is to provide healthcare services to our communities with excellent service, compassion, and fiscal responsibility.  We have been serving the people in our area for more than 70 years and are the only hospital in the state of Colorado to be recognized seven years in a row as a Top 100 Rural Hospital in the country.  We employ over 700 caregivers and work closely with 100 providers who all live and raise their families and invest in this community.  MRH provides compassionate care to anyone who comes through our doors, regardless of their ability to pay for their services.  In 2021, MRH provided $26.5 million in community benefit to support patients in our community. I am so proud to lead this incredible organization and look forward to great things in our future.

We are excited to open the next chapter in healthcare by building an Ambulatory Care Center (ACC) and partnering with your local care providers. MRH has the fiscal responsibility to ensure healthcare services are provided to our communities for the next 50, 75, 100 years.  Therefore, decisions made today carefully consider the very long- term impact on services to our patients for future years. We have a different point of view on how the medical clinic being proposed by the national firm QHR in the Colorado Outdoors area will affect Montrose Regional Health and your care providers.  Since QHR is a for-profit entity, they need to generate revenue to support their national shareholders.  Are they going to accept every patient regardless of their ability to pay?  Are they going to be here to support the local events, give back through a health fair, support your children’s sports’ team?  What is their motive for coming to Montrose?

The issue clearly is an instance of two entities with different profit objectives competing for the same patient.  We agree that large healthcare systems and national firms are very attracted to Montrose because of the growth opportunities and our beautiful area.  This is one of the reasons a large national firm like QHR is now trying to compete with your local community hospital.  MRH is focused on building our Ambulatory Care Center and working with our local care providers and physicians to take the healthcare environment in Montrose to the next level.  The ACC will help keep other competitors out of area which would financially hurt the hospital and other local providers.  Montrose Regional Health provides some services lines that operate at a net loss and others that cover the costs of the non-revenue producing areas.  QHR can choose to offer only the services that receive the highest reimbursement and gather those patients to make a profit, while we need all of the services to properly care for our communities.

Another concern is staffing two facilities.  Currently MRH has more than 90 job openings.  The pandemic has had huge impact on the shortage of nurses, respiratory therapists, and many other healthcare professionals.  People have left these positions nationwide due to stress and work-life balance and Montrose is feeling the effects of this.  It will be almost impossible to staff two facilities in addition to the hospital.  In addition, this could fragment and be destructive to our top-notch medical staff.  MRH and QHR will be competing for the same patients which dilutes everyone’s market share and ability to be successful.

Montrose Regional Health analyzed the market opportunities, patient demands and payor trends.  Based on this analysis, we designed an ambulatory care center to meet the demands of our communities and to decrease healthcare costs, improve convenience and patient experience.  We are working closely with the Denver company NexCore, who specializes in developing healthcare buildings.  The building will generate real estate taxes and increase the use of utilities which will benefit the city.  By having the help of a developer build the ACC, it allows the hospital to keep our financial resources and focus on updating the main hospital campus and our aging facilities.

As a non-profit hospital, our revenue doesn’t go to shareholders in another state: we reinvest that into care here in Montrose, for you. Montrose Regional Health has grown since our inception in 1950, always seeking to grow responsibly as our community grows – such as establishing cardiology care in 2000, the San Juan Cancer Center in 2006, our Joint Replacement Center in 2009, and our advanced lung health services at our Montrose Lung & Sleep Center in 2021. Each service we grow has allowed our community to receive their care here instead of spending their resources traveling to Grand Junction or Denver for care. MRH provides over $55 Million in salaries each year which is a huge economic driver in our community.   With an outside organization focusing on mainly profitable services, there will be fewer resources available to invest into bringing new services to Montrose and the region for our patients.

Our communities deserve the best care and advanced treatments possible. For the sake of the health of our communities, let’s continue to keep resources local. Our patient and families are why we are here for you, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Jeff Mengenhausen, CEO
Montrose Regional Health