Hospital district tallies relief funds

The time has come for Crook County Medical Services District (CCMSD) to tally up the relief funds it has spent to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. The district is set to benefit to the tune of $2.2 million from the Provider Relief Funds (PRF), which were distributed to the district through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HSS) funds around 18 months ago.

CEO Micki Lyons explained to the board that three different phases of money were sent out, intended for nursing homes, clinics, acute care and testing. However, she said, this was done with “virtually no guidance” as to how it could be spent.

The intention, she said, was for medical providers to use the money to “prepare for, respond to and prevent COVID-19.”

CCMSD made the decision to hold off on actually using the money and maintain the funds in the district’s accounts while keeping records of potentially applicable spending. Said Lyons, it appears that the district will be able to keep $2,221,143 of the funds received so far after preparing the reports for HHS in time for the November deadline.

Meanwhile, $926,198.03 will be returned.

CCMSD did not use all the funds, said Lyons, because a conservative approach was taken when deciding what does and does not count as “COVID-related”. For example, staff reasoned that it could be applied to utilities for the district’s facilities because those are necessary to be able to continue operations; on the other hand, it was felt like the funds should not be used to pay for 100% of a provider’s time when that provider would be there regardless.

Infection control, extra equipment during the surge of cases, salaries for staff members whose job was to screen people entering the buildings and other such items were included among the items that district staff felt were appropriate uses of the funds.

CCMSD stuck with items they felt they were able to justify, said Lyons. Alayna Marten, Chief Financial Officer, confirmed that this has been done in consultation with the district’s auditors, who “felt good with our methodology.”

The district has applied for phase four of the relief funding and expects to hear a response by the end of the year. This also represents the deadline for reporting on the third triage of funds already received, which was intended for clinics.