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Show r" The San Juan Record HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER FOR SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH Vol83fJo21 SINCE 1 91 5 March2, Despite more patients, financial woes continue for San Juan Health Care District by Anna Adair The number of patients vis- iting health care facilities in San Juan County is up, accord- ing to reports given at the lS2ss5s:-- Health Care District Board meeting on February 23. The District still suffers financial strains however, because costs are up and cash flow is not in- $ r sterr. - The canyon rims of the Canyonlands basin would creasing. Problems with increased expenses are attributed to past due bills that need to be paid be- come the new borders of Canyonlands National Park under a new proposal recently released by local officials of the National Park Service. Courtesy photo Canyonlands National Park would increase 156 under Park Completion proposal It has taken seven years of planning effort and the only result is a detailed map and a set of ideas, but local officials in the National Park Service are pursiung an idea to expand of the boundaries Park. National Canyonlands The proposal to more than double the size of Canyonlands National Park has been presented by Canyonlands Park Superintendent Walt Dabney. Dabney states that the plan is not an official National Park Service plan, just the opening salvo in what he hopes will be an involved public discussion on possible expansion of the Park. The map outlines a Park Completion Plan" that would expand Canyonlands from its current 332,860 acres to 852,068 acres. Dabney said the park completion plan will complete the natural borders of the Canyonlands basin by following the canyon rims. He said the map is an effort to get away from straight line planning that was used when the Park was created in the 1960s. Park officials emphasize that this is nothing but an idea. A congressional initiative, complete with an involved public process, would be neccesary before the new borders could be accepted. U.S. President Bill Clinton apparently seriously consid- ered expansion of Canyonlands into the Lockhart Basin before he turned his attention to the creation of the 1.7 mil lion acre Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument in 1996. The park completion plan includes the existing Canyonlands National Park and the adjacent Orange Cliffs region of Glen Canyon National Park, which is adminis- tered by Canyonlands Na- tional Park. Additional lands that would be added to the National Park Service are now managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Seventy-si- x percent of the additional BLM lands are considered for wilderness designation under HR 1500, the proposed 5.7 million acre wilderness designation supported by the environmental community. Thirty percent of these lands are currently in BLM Wilderness Study Areas adjacent to the park. Apparently, the only private land in the proposal is the Dugout Ranch, which is owned by the Nature Conservancy. Dabney said that any private lands would become inholdings on Federal land and would retain their private ownership, possibly for several generations. Dabney said that the idea of the project is to finish the park, to complete the original Canyonlands National Park. Apparently, the original bill to create the park included more than one million acres and extended south all the way to Dark Canyon. Dabney said that if the park extended from rim to rim, Canyonlands would be the finest and most complete park in the National Park Service. Approximately half of the expansion is in San Juan County, including large portions of Indian Creek Canyon and Lockhart Basin and the Bridger Jack and Indian Creek wilderness study areas. The southern border of the park would include portions of Gypsum Canyon, Bodie Can- yon and the Butler Wash wilderness study area. Beef Basin would not be included. Entry points in the National Park under the new proposal would be at Newspaper Rock on State Highway 211, in addition to Hurrah Pass and Bobbies Hole. The expanded Canyonlands would include territory adjacent to Dead Horse State Park and up ther River Canyon corridor. Dabney has aggressively pursued the concept of Canyonlands expansion throughout his seven year tenre as superintendent of the Park- - The recent release of the expansion map is accompanied by Dabneys announcement that he will be leaving Canyonlands and the National Park Service to serve as the new director of the Texas State Park System. Dabney will leave southeastern Utah at the end of April. In Texas, Dabney will be responsible for 123 State Parks. and revenues for heavy De- cember billings that are just starting to come in. It is hoped that through vigorous collec- tion efforts, some of the more than two million dollars in receivables will be collected. Hospital Administrator Reed Wood said he thinks that billing for the Montezuma Creek Clinic should not be moved to San Juan Hospital. Wood said that the District taking over the billing would discourage the clinic from finding a solution to its billing problems. Wood adds that if the clinic has a manager and the proper accounting tools, they may be able to become an independent entity. A healthy and independent Montezuma Creek Clinic could possibly be owned by the Navajo Nation or a private entity. The potential is there for the clinic to be a source of pride, said Wood. He praised the staff at the clinic, saying that there are quality people there who care about their jobs. problems Accounting care health the throughout district were discussed. Anew system will be researched as soon as possible in order to move forward and attempt to improve the financial systems throughout the District. Wood announced the status 0f a replacement supervisor in the Montezuma Creek Clinic. He reports that a qualified candidate has been found, but a new supervisor will not be hired until the legal dispute is settled over the firing of former supervisor Donna Singer. Rick Bailey reported on a conflict of interest claim raised by the attorney in the Singer dispute. County Attorney n Craig Halls has rem0ved sef from the issue because he pay for them when the financial status of the district improves. The district would take ownership of the vehicles and provide insurance on the vehicles under the county offer. Board members said that this w'ould be a good move for the district to cut down on mileage reimbursements to employees who have been using private vehicles for district projects. Pharmacist Kenny Nielson reported to the board the amount of money spent in the district on prescription drugs. He stated that the board may be getting inaccurate information regarding the financial status of pharmaceutical matters in the District. He also suggested that the pharmacies in the clinics no longer do retail work, which would allow them better pricing for pharmaceuticals. Nielson discussed a computer ordering system that would help find the best prices available and save the district money. Nielson and Wood will travel to the clinics to make sure they are trained on drug usage and billing. The goal is that information is accurate and that high priced medicines are not being used uneccesarily. In other business, the Board approved the recommendation of the medical staff to make Dr. Terry Cook an active member of the staff. The staff is amending the bylaws to allow additions on a case by case basis for visiting physicians. Cook is a podiatrist. The possibility of the district obtaining CT scanner was dis- cussed. Hospital personnel state that a lot of money is lost from the hospital because patients are sent to Cortez to have CT scans. Dr. Nat Penn said that a CT scanner is esbrother-in-lasential equipment for the hosjs Baileys said that by pital. Singers attorney care health the An earlier offer from representing Halls was working Durango to place a CT scandistrict, outside the scope of his office ner and other teleradiology as an elected official. Thedis- - sendees in San Juan Hospital trict has since obtained other has failed to materialize. The legal counsel in the dispute, staff and administration will Due to the questions, the continue to look into the purboard is seeking an opinion chase of a mobile scanner that from the state Attorney could be used in Blanding and Generals office on whether or Monticello. not the district needs to retain Cleal Bradford told the counsel other than the County board that the San Juan F n will not be Attorney. billing the Bailey also announced a health district for the time for the health district to spent consulting on the conditake over ownership of three tion of medical facilities in San County surplus vehicles and Juan County. him-Gree- w. oun-datio- |