Rural Healthcare Forum Packed
by Concerned Citizens
Which Is More Important:
Doctors or Bureaucracy?

by Fred Hernandez
By all accounts and measures it was an overflow attendance at Tony’s Pizza on Thursday evening, April 26th, for the monthly Liberty Rocks public forum hosted by Dan and Jackie Bubis. At 6 p.m., just before the meeting was called to order, the room was full to capacity with over 100 guests. The crowd was energetic and in good spirits as the Master of Ceremonies, Dan Bubis, got the meeting started with his ROE (Rules of Engagement); there would be two short power point presentations by Mr. Malin Jones and Dr. Gary Mohr to offer basic information and statistics on rural healthcare, followed by a question and answer period at which time the five PATIENTS FIRST candidates running for the Clinic Board would speak about their backgrounds and be available for questions and answers from the audience. Jax Bubis would be the official time keeper and keep everyone on schedule in order to have an orderly meeting and conclude on time.
Mr. Malin Jones, a part time resident of Custer County for over twenty years, gave his background as having been in the healthcare industry for several decades both in actual medical care as well as financing of medical insurance. He worked in rural health and managed systems including a Colorado State licensed healthcare HMO in San Luis Valley which he later developed further and expanded into alarger plan for Denver making him eminently qualified to speak on these issues. He worked closely with physicians, clinics and hospitals to create well-coordinated, comprehensive medical care systems with insurance components.
As Mr. Jones says we cannot solve or re-invent national healthcare but we have the opportunity to improve our own primary care delivery locally. His presentation included demographics of rural communities, the income disparity of the population, the impact of seasonal population changes, the Census which showed population in the county to be about 4,800 and a median age of fifty- three years. Mr. Jones spoke quite convincingly of the necessity to take an active participation to make sure that the health care of all residents is of paramount importance on the agendas of whoever is running for the board of the clinic.
Dr. Gary Mohr, for his part, eloquently delivered his own analysis of the probable causes of a clinic that does not seem to be on the cutting edge of delivering a healthcare service to the satisfaction of the majority of county residents. In fact, proving yet again that the English language idiom “a picture is worth a thousand words” is spot on, he displayed on the big screen a chart that elicited a distinctly audible gasp from the audience. The gasp was in surprise at the great difference shown in the graph between doctors entering the medical practice; a thin blue line at the bottom of the chart, and administrators getting employed by a bloated system; a veritable mountain of yellow. While this chart pertains to the national picture, it may have a similarity to local conditions. There seems to be a consensus of opinions that clinic management may be a bit “top heavy” to say the least.
He also showed a graph that superimposes escalating healthcare costs directly related to the growth of administrators.
Dr. Mohr’s background is even more intimately linked to the question at hand. He worked at the clinic at different periods of time over a number of years. He has had first hand, inside knowledge and experience. He has established relationships with patients who were going to the clinic at one time, some of who, no longer go there. In one part of his talk, Dr. Mohr, who operates a thriving practice in Cañon City, compared his Cañon Office to the one in Custer County. The number of patients/clients seen on an annual basis are identical….about 5,000 patients. The administration costs of Dr. Mohr’s office is about 0.45% with a staff of four highly trained personnel while at the clinic administration costs runs much higher with more than a dozen employees and managers.
Following the slide presentations, the PATIENTS FIRST Clinic Board candidates were called up on the stage. Each one was given a brief time to deliver a quick over view of their qualifications for the position they seek. There could be no doubt that each one was highly qualified to do their specific part of the job needed for a high performance, top of the line health care providing organization. Later on, as questions were asked by the public, each one showed a high level of professionalism in the way they responded and gave their opinions on various topics. Both Dr. Mohr and Mr. Jones also took question from the public regarding their own presentations. There were not as many questions from the audience as had been expected. For one thing, none of the current board attending the forum stepped up in public with any questions. This would have been the perfect venue for them to bring light to some of the issues at hand and yet they refrained from any interaction with the candidates or the audience. This would have been an ideal time to respond to the questions in the minds of many residents; “Why are there not enough doctors, if any, on schedule? Why is there often no second ambulance available in emergencies especially after the huge mill levy increase in 2014?” So, these questions remain unanswered for now. As originally planned, the forum came to a formal close at the predetermined time. The public was invited to remain and dialogue with each other and the candidates. So, with a hearty round of applause, the Patients First forum hosted by Liberty Rocks came to a successful and satisfying end.