SUBLETTE COUNTY – The working relationship between the boards of Sublette Hospital Health and Star Valley Health reached a breaking point last month when Star Valley Health indicated its desire to take a different direction.

The two entities had worked together since a March 2021 management contract agreement, required by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s financing program, after the Sublette County Rural Health Care District became the new Sublette County Hospital District (SCHD) board and interviewed several candidates to help build a new critical access hospital (CAH).

‘Role model’

Star Valley Health’s role with building its own CAH was touted as one reason it was “an ideal role model” to “guide and lend their expertise in our pursuit of building a (CAH) in Sublette County,” according to the Sublette County Health website.

Star Valley Health officers would guide the new Sublette County Hospital District in its goal of building the new critical access hospital and associated longterm care facility.

However, this working relationship mutually ended effective Dec. 11 during a special meeting, according to SCHD Board Chair Tonia Hoffman.

“There were business proposals presented by Star Valley Health at the SCHD regular board meeting on Nov. 29 that our board did not feel were in alignment with our vision and mission at Sublette County Hospital District, and so we requested a mutual termination, which they accepted,” Hoffman said on Jan. 2.

Up next

She said the SCHD was paying Star Valley Health “a monthly fee for their services and expertise … (but was) not at liberty to speak specifically to the terms of the contract we were under with them.”

The SCHD is “grateful” for the assistance SVH provided under the agreement “but decided we needed to move in a different direction,” Hoffman added.

As for the USDA state program director Lorraine Werner’s oversight of the recent about-face, she explained that the SCHD is “beyond Ms. Werner’s purview at present, since we are managed at a national level with USDA, but they were agreeable to our decision to terminate the agreement.”

The SCHD employs owner’s rep Karl Lueschow, so his position is not affected by the board’s decision, Hoffman said.

“The SCHD board is currently soliciting proposals for new management and/or consultation services to help guide us through construction completion and opening of the hospital,” Hoffman said.

Merger complete

Also on Jan. 2, SCHD’s public relations director Kari DeWitt announced that the merger between the Sublette Center and SCHD was completed as of Dec. 20. See more about the merger in this edition’s Healthy Living section.