By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
The Miners Colfax Medical Center Board of Directors met Friday January 17, 2025, for their first meeting of the year where they heard form Raton City Manager Rick Mestas concerning the old hospital building across the road along with other business.
The board agreed to reappointment of Drs David Glass, Emergency Medicine, Almas Syed, Teleradiology and Omar Hussein, Teleneurology to the MCMC staff.
It was confirmed by MCMC CEO Brian Roland that the mobile mammography truck was not coming to MCMC, but the staff is working on other alternatives even looking into the purchase of Mammography testing equipment that is estimated to be $250,000.
Rick Mestas came to the board to discuss the old hospital building as it continues to run down. Mestas noted that there is an EPA grant available to do an assessment on the old hospital. Mestas is asking for permission to do the assessment at no cost to MCMC. He noted that the building depending on the assessment could be used for other purposes. Other issues include what is in the building such as asbestos and lead paint that would have to be removed prior to demolition. The board approved the assessment.
The board also approved the open meetings act and will continue to have their board meetings on the third Friday of each month at 1:00 p.m.
The board heard about the annual audit for FYE 2024 from Tom Dingus of DZA, LLC where MCMC received an unmodified report with no findings. The results show that the hospital has seen an improvement both expenses and income. The hospital operating expenses have improved to due to additional Medicaid and Medicare payments which are about 2/3 of the hospital’s income. The board approved the audit report.
Dr. Loretta Conder was reappointed to the credentials committee. Conder noted she has served on this committee for about 16 years.
CFO Lonny Medina presented his financial report to the board where the hospital has over $9 million in the bank and about $1 million is designated as capital outlay. Much of the capital outlay money will be used in the radiology department with the purchase of new equipment and a couple of rooms that will need to be refurbished.
The hospital continues to see a decline in patient volumes in both in-patient and outpatient services. Medina noted that with six months in the books that the hospital looks to come close to breaking even for the year.
