The Basin Clinic Board of Directors' regular monthly meeting took place April 21.
Dr. Tiffany Ordóñez, a medical provider at Basin Clinic, joined the meeting over Zoom. She said she was curious as to whether or not the clinic would be getting money from the “Big Beautiful Bill” that Congress recently passed.
Executive Director Christina Pierce said Colorado has been approved for funding, though she said decisions are still being made by CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) and the state on how funds can be used. She shared her current understanding of how the clinic will be able to use funds: “You can improve, but you can’t replace … it’s like having new carpet in your house, but your roof still leaks.”
She said the funds can’t be used to replace the clinic’s EHR (electronic health record), but could be used to hire a financial analyst or put towards its workforce.
Upon review of the clinic’s financial report, board member Don Colcord inquired as to whether or not the board has a brokerage account they could be putting money into. The board informed him that they do not.
“When you’re talking $300,000 over the course of a year … that’s a lot of money to sit there and collect nothing,” said Colcord.
The board considered a brokerage account or short-term CDs. They decided to store some of the clinic’s money in their savings account until May’s meeting to give members time to gather information about brokerage accounts before making a decision.
Pierce told the board she recently applied to Colorado’s Enterprise Zone Program on behalf of the West End and Basin Clinic. The program would offer incentives to citizens for making monetary donations to the Basin Clinic.
“They donate and get a tax credit for it … You can take 25% of that donation off your state income tax,” board member Chris Daniels said of the program.
Pierce told the board that she would know by May 28 if the application has been approved or denied.
The board’s service plan for a mini-hospital has been submitted to Montrose County Commissioners. Upon approval from commissioners, the board intends to make the service plan available to the public by posting it on the Basin Clinic’s website. They also acknowledged the need to find community members willing to collect signatures for petitions to organize a hospital district.
The board discussed hiring a PR firm to help share positive information about the mini-hospital campaign, which would involve passing a 20-mill levy.
Pierce said she has spoken with local leaders in Norwood and Telluride, who have run successful mill levy campaigns and learned that they had done the work without PR firms. She said they advised her to get out into the community to talk about the campaign, and to be ready to face hard questions.
Board member Lorraine Garvey pointed out that it may be more beneficial to the campaign, if the board takes on the PR work themselves. She stated that the community would be more receptive to information from locals than from outsiders.
“We definitely need to have some kind of PR committee,” said Daniels, adding that the board should consider it and have something in place by May’s meeting.
Daniels also brought up the West End Vision Project, an official document, recently adopted by local governments to guide decision making.
“The whole plan itself is beneficial to the West End … The parts that are specific to health care, I think, are extremely important to us … It’s very specific and very helpful in making plans,” Daniels said.
The board carried a motion to accept the West End Vision Project as a guiding document for Basin Clinic’s strategic planning and overarching goals.
The board expressed interest in moving the public comment session of meetings, which currently takes place at the end, to the beginning. This change would help ensure those with questions or concerns are better able to voice them.
The next public board meeting will take place May 19 at 5:30 p.m. Members of the public are welcome to attend in person at Nucla Hopkin’s Field, or over Zoom.
This story is funded by the Telluride Foundation through a grant dedicated to health care reporting for 2026.
