| OCR Text |
Show Page 2 The Gunnison Valley Gazette Dalley named new hospital administrator By JOHN HALES GUNNIS ON—The Gunnison Valley Hospital Board of Directors has named the hospital's new administrator. Mark F. Dalley will come into the hospital's top spot in August, having had almost a quarter century of health-care administration experience. "I want everybody to know that we are very excited to come to the area," Dalley said when contacted by the Gazette last week. "I know Gunnison is a small area, but we like that. Gunnison [hospital] has a great reputation, and we're looking forward to being part of that." Dalley worked in healthcare administration for 24 years, in both small hospitals as well as larger organizations. He comes to Gunnison from Idaho, though he originally is from just down the road apiece. "I grew up in a little tiny town called Summit, just north of Cedar City," he said. He graduated from Parowan High School and attended Southern Utah State College, and later BYU for a master's degree in public administration. "I wanted to be an engineer. Then I changed and wanted to be an attorney. Then changed again, wanting to be a city administrator," he said. It wasn't until during the first semester of his master's program that he focused on health care. After his graduate program he began work at Intermountain Health Care in Richfield. He worked at medical centers and hospitals in Cedar City, St. George, Utah County, Tooele, Nephi and most recently Oregon with Catholic Health Initiatives, the second- CANDIDATES Continued from Page 1 But several other candidates appear to be in the proMain Street camp, and have also made no secret in past public settings about their positions. They include Kent Larsen and current Gunnison City Planning and Zoning Chair Elise Bown. "There were several people who asked me to run," Larsen said. "I've attended several public meetings and been asked to contribute some stuff on the Main Street project and be on a couple committees." He said he desired to support the mayor. Bown said she wanted to be a more direct part of the decision-making process when it came to some "big things" coming up, including the Main Street project. The Gazette was able to speak with all but two of the 11 Gunnison City candidates. Of those, four appeared to either be against—or at least have significant concerns with—the Main Street project and/or the direction the city was going. Three others appeared Gunnison Valley Hospital Administrator Mark F. Dailey largest Catholic health system in the country. With IHC and CHI under his belt, he said, "It's true that I've spend a fair amount of my career working in larger corporations." Such organizations have much more in the way of certain kinds of resources than smaller hospitals like Gunnison do. At the same time, he said, "I'm very familiar with small facilities," having worked in places like Richfield and Nephi. "I like the family atmosphere that comes with those. I think you get to know everybody really well," he said. And in his application letter for the administrator position he wrote that his years working in small community hospitals were "the most rewarding, challenging and enjoyable of the setting in which I have worked." For the last year, Dalley worked outside of health care after CHI made changes that were incompatible with Dalley's professional objectives. He took a top position in a neighbor's company. "But I did find that I missed health care," he said. to be supportive of the Main Street project and of Mayor Nay's objectives. Two said the issue did not play into their motivations for running for office. The list of candidates running for council seats in Gunnison includes the following: Elise Bown, Blake Donaldson, Richard Gillham, Brian Jensen (incumbent), Larry Jensen (incumbent), Melissa Judy, Kent Larsen, Charles Lund, Thomas Stafford, Jordan Stewart and Ryan Thompson. Incumbent Steven Buchanan declined to run again, deciding to "let somebody else have a chance," he said. "I'm glad there's a bunch running for Gunnson City, and I hope their concern is for all aspects of the city and not just one agenda. It's great that there's that much interest in it," Buchanan said. Because of the number of candidates, Gunnison citizens will be asked to winnow that number down to six during a primary election on Sept. 13. FAYETTE With no candidates at all, Fayette will not have a primary election. Write-in candi- Eir e GGUNTNTISONtrAt aze Lane Henderson, Publisher Mark Henline, Editor & Advertising Jodi Henline, Office Manager Call: (435) 528-5178 for subscription, news or advertising. FAX: (435) 528-5179 E-mail gazette@gtelco.net The Gunnison Valley Gazette is published each Thursday by Gunnison Valley Gazette, L.L.C., 328 North Valley Drive, P.O. Box 143 Gunnison, Utah 84634. Bulk rate postage (permit No. 11) is paid at Gunnison, Utah. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Gunnison Valley Gazette, P.O. Box 143 Gunnison, Utah 84634 Deadlines: News and advertising, Noon, Monday prior to publication. Subscription prices: One year, $25 in Sanpete County, one year, $30 outside Sanpete County. Single copy price 75 cents. Advertising rates available upon request. All articles and photographs submitted for publication are subject to editing and only will be used if the editor deems them newsworthy. The editor reserves the right to hold submitted news items for space reasons. Copyright Gunnison Valley Gazette, Gunnison, Utah 2005. All rights reserved. Reproduction, reuse or transmittal of all matter herein is prohibited without prior written permission by the publisher or editor. He learned of Gunnison's administrator position, and took the opportunity "to get back into health care." That was the main thing that attracted him to the position, though there were others. "Gunnison, though small, has a great reputation for quality of patient care and customer service," he said. And, "It was an opportunity to move back to Utah where most of our family is." Dalley doesn't foresee making any sudden or abrupt changes in the way the hospital operates. "I'd like to meet and visit with everybody, want to meet with department managers, want to spend time with individual physicians and get their assessment of how things are going," he said. "I want to meet with all of the board members and do the same; get out into the communities that we serve and meet with community leaders and see how they feel about the hospital; and then use all that information to determine the direction we go in the future." He indicated that he was aware of the hospital's role in the community, and that role was a great consideration in the hospital's operation. "I think it's important to be a good neighbor, a good community member," he said. "I think the primary purpose of the small facility is to be reflective of the values of the communities that we serve and that we meet the needs of those communities. We need to provide all the services we can, but there are services we can't provide and shouldn't. We can't be everything to everybody, but we should be everything that we can, and do it financially responsibly to maintain the financial strength and integrity of the institution." Thursday, July 21, 2011 GV Hospital in top 2% By JOHN HALES Hospital Flexibility Grant Program, or "Flex" Program) for the U.S. Office of Rural Health Policy. "The purpose of it is to provide resources to CAH boards and managers that are helpful in improving hospital performance and to produce policy analyses to the federal and state offices of rural health," said George Pink, one of the UNC researchers. Pink and Mark Holmes, another UNC researcher, surveyed hundreds of CAH administrators to determine five financial benchmarks "which are very useful when evaluating the financial health of an organization," he said. Those benchmarks included the following: 1)Having a net cash flow of 5 percent or better above expenses, basically meaning that the hospital makes at least a 5 percent profit; 2) Having cash on hand in amount that would allow the hospital to operate for at least 60 days if no other revenue could be collected; 3) Having a cash inflow to debt payment ratio of 3to-1 or greater, meaning that the hospital brings in at least three dollars for every dollar spent repaying its debts; 4) Having long-term debt that is 25 percent or less of the hospital's total assets; 5) Having Medicare outpatient costs that are 56 percent or less of charges. GUNNISON—A study last year showed Gunnison Valley Hospital was in the top 2 percent of small hospitals nationwide when it comes to financial performance. A team of researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) found the hospital was one of only 32—out of more than 1,000—that met or exceeded benchmarks in five selected financial indicators. "This is an outstanding achievement for which you, your board, and your staff are to be commended," stated a letter sent in January to former hospital administrator Greg Rosenvall. The study looked at 1,300 hospitals designated as Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs). Such hospitals are generally small, rural and a certain distance away from other hospitals. They qualify for a more flexible Medicare reimbursement formula than other hospitals, and receive Medicare payments equal to the cost of services plus 1 percent. The UNC researchers are part of a three-university team known as the Flex Monitoring Team, a federally funded organization that monitors and evaluates the special Medicare reimbursement program (called the Medicare Rural Gunnison Valley Hospital met or exceeded those benchmarks in each of the years 2007, 2008 and 2009, Pink said. "Out of 1,300 hosp, we identified 32 hospitals that were clearly indicating they were performing better," Pink said. But, he said, "There wasn't a lot of information on how they were all doing it. There's not been any systematic studies of CAHs. They are very different than larger hospitals. The purposes of the study were to find out how these how hospitals were doing well, and write it up," so that other hospitals could benefit. A follow-up report based on interviews with the wellperforming hospitals will be written for the Office of Rural Health Policy as well as for the journal Health Care Financial Management, one of the industry's leading professional publications. Pink said the Flex Team invited Rosenvall to take part in interviews to see what kinds of policies were in place that enabled the Gunnison hospital to operate so well financially, but that Rosenvall did not take part in those interviews. However, Pink said, since Gunnison Valley Hospital did not take part in the follow-up interviews, it will not be listed in the coming report. into all theiVorld dates can file with the town up to 45 days prior to Nov. 8th's election. If no write-ins file, Fayette's mayor and town council members will try to find people willing to serve, who would then be appointed by the town council next January. "Somebody will step up. They always do. We've got some good people there, and they'll step up," Mayor Bartholomew said. MAYFIELD With four candidates vying for two council positions, Mayfield will also not require a primary election as long as no other write-in candidates file. Candidates who filed by last week's regular filing deadline were Amanda Bennett, Desirae Christiansen, Billie Coates and Catherine Coulter. CENTERFIELD Likewise, no primary will be held in Centerfield, and, if no write-in candidates file, the city may not even have to have an election. The only candidates who filed are the ones whose seats are up for election: Keith Garff, Mardy Jensen and Becky Edwards. WEATHER Thursday 90/56 Mostly Sunny Friday 88/56 Sunny Saturday 88/55 Sunny Sunday 89/56 Sunny Gunnison's Weather is brought to you by Gunnison Telephone Co. Elder Max Sanders is serving near the Banuae rice terraces just a few weeks before returning home. These Filipinas made the headdress for him then charged a few pesos to have their photo taken. Well worth the cost for the memories. Max is the son of Jim and Suzanne Sanders of Gunnison. into all the World Rasmussen Ace Hardware is sponsored by ACE Paints Sporting Goods Whirpool Appliances 528-7513 435 South Main • Gunnison The helpful place. Now Playing at The Casino Sea" Theatre HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2 Playing through August 4th Monday - Thursday: 7:00 Friday & Saturday: 7 b- 9:20 National Premier! Sorry, No Thursday Discount Night the first week of National Releases. Movie Ticket Prices • $6 - Adults $4 - Children under 12 & Seniors 78 South Main Street Gunnison 528-STAR www.casinostartheatrecom The Casino Star Theatre "loaf Nometolon National TreasaFer |
