For about a year and a half after double bypass surgery, Tom Vogenthaler went to a wellness workout class at a gym owned by Montrose Regional Health, two days a week. The retired house mover got most of his poker group to join, and his wife signed up too.
On Monday, Oct. 12, the day the hospital cut 77 positions, his wife got a phone call: the class was "permanently closed." Vogenthaler thinks it was "done very inappropriately." Members paid out of pocket. "It seems to me that they could have said, well, we need to raise the prices," he said.
The hospital laid off 34 employees and won't fill 43 vacant positions. In a statement, it said insurance payments have stayed essentially flat as patient services grew, and that about $25 million in insurance payments remain outstanding. It has also scaled back several therapy wellness programs, which the statement doesn't name. In an email to staff that day, obtained by KVNF, CEO Jeff Mengenhausen wrote that "affected patients and providers are currently being notified." KVNF reported the cuts in its Oct. 13 newscast.
On the money side of things, Vogenthaler blames the insurers too. They "make us pay our insurance on time, and they don't pay the claims," he said.
He said he has had a good relationship with the hospital over the years. What he objects to is the short notice: "It shouldn't have happened that way."
Vogenthaler asked the person who ran the class whether they would speak with KVNF, and they declined an interview request.