Bye the numbers

The newly renamed Platte Valley Healthcare Project (PVHP-formerly the Healthcare Sustainability Project Subcommittee) held their monthly meeting 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 17 in the Platte Valley Community Center (PVCC) Great Hall.

The first thing that struck an attendee to the meeting was that instead of all the seats facing a front table, the chairs were arranged in a box fashion surrounding an open space.

Snacks were also on hand for visitors.

To start the meeting, project member George Haigh said that, though PVHP had been hopeful to present feasibility study numbers from accounting firm BKD, those numbers still had some open variables in the draft report that was not matching up with some of the data PVHP had collected from the state. This being the case, Haigh said PVHP did not feel comfortable presenting incomplete or inaccurate numbers at this time.

Haigh said PVHP had paid a lot of money for the study and, though BKD had been ready to come in and "wing it," he had made the decision that this was not something to rush through and that they wanted to present polished and true numbers.

Haigh added that BKD would be in Saratoga for the August 14 meeting, which will be held in the PVCC theater so that BKD could present their numbers on the large screen for everyone to read the numbers openly.

The other announcement Haigh made at the meeting was that the Healthcare Sustainability Project Subcommittee was no longer a subcommittee of the Corbett Medical Foundation (CMF) and had incorporated under the new name of Platte Valley Healthcare Project. Haigh said that PVHP had held their first board meeting that CMF had sat in on and that PVHP was continuing with the procedure to become a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation.

Haigh added that the bylaws of the new corporation would be available at plattevalleyhealthcare.org. The site also currently has an overview of BKD's Market Demand Analysis under the Detailed Notes And Information heading.

Haigh then said he saw a number of new faces at the meeting and said that, because the feasibility study numbers were not available as yet, the meeting would be more of a question and answer session.

The meeting that followed was a rehash of previously reported information for those that had not attended previous meetings.

The PVHP members in attendance, Haigh, Sonja Collamer and Leslie McLinskey, reintroduced themselves, gave an overview of other PVHP members and described the happenings that had culminated in the current state of healthcare in the Valley. The PVHP members present, along with Saratoga Care Center Administrator Mark Pesognelli, gave a picture of what the future of healthcare here could look like and answered questions from the audience.

BKD is expected to give numbers from the Critical Access Hospital feasibility study at the next PVHP meeting to be held at 5:30 Wednesday, August 14 in the PVCC theater.