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Valley View Hospital District Passes Along With Funding Levy

In what became a year-long saga for Valley View Home, filled with uncertainty, anxiety and pressure for staff, residents, families and supporters, the vote to approve a hospital district and funding levy for Valley View Nursing Home has passed.

With a vote totaling 2,701 respondents, 1,674 voted in favor of the district and 1,027 against. The funding levy received less support with 1,510 voting for and 1,138 voting against. Ken Jansa beat out Dave Reinhardt for the three-year trustee position with Karen Breigenzer and Darrell Morehouse taking the two-year and one-year positions respectively.

Valley View had been facing consistent losses in revenue over the years with a shortage in Medicaid reimbursement and a declining census due to prior management. Following the release of Health Management Services based in Billings, the current situation was evaluated by a board of community members who took on the challenge of finding a solution to Valley View’s hardship.

After planning and assessing options, the Long-term Care Task Force, as the group became known, presented the plan to the public of bridging the coming years with a temporary levy and launching a ballot initiative to establish a hospital district for funding the home.

The entirety of the task force plan has come to fruition and the plans are in the works for the task force’s role to cooperate with Valley View’s board of directors and Frances Mahon Deaconess Hospital to follow through on efforts to increase the home’s revenue and lobby the state and federal legislatures to support increases in Medicaid funding going forward.

The recently hired Valley View Administrator Wes Thompson told the Courier, “Valley View feels as though a weight has been lifted, and now we look forward to moving ahead and making sure we show the community how much it meant to us.”

 

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