Estes Park Salud must raise $1M to keep clinic open beyond May 31

Story by Patti Brown

The Estes Park Salud Clinic is facing a looming funding crisis that threatens its future. If a solution is not found for the projected $1 million operating shortfall, the clinic may close May 31, said John Santistevan the president and CEO of Salud Family Health in an interview last week with the Estes Valley Voice.

The dire financial situation is due in large part to significant cuts in eligibility for Medicaid beneficiaries as a result of what the government is calling the post-Covid “unwinding” and “disenrollment.”

Colorado is one of 10 states that has been especially hard hit by the Medicaid disenrollment due to administrative rules about the continuous coverage mandate that went into effect during the COVID-19 public health emergency which officially ended May 11, 2023. Since then, some 575,000 individuals—33% of all people who were receiving Medicaid in the state—have been disenrolled.

In addition, flat Congressional funding for the past 12 years coupled with increases in health care costs—including salaries, equipment, and general inflation—have strained the clinic’s budget to the breaking point said Doug Frisbie, the president of the Estes Park Salud Foundation.

Santistevan will make a presentation about the local Estes Park clinic’s finances on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. during the Town of Estes Park’s board meeting and to explain an aggressive fundraising plan in an effort to buy some time.

The impending fiscal crisis has been of concern for months. In September, Salud invited a constituent advocate from the Ft. Collins’ office of Rep. Joe Neguse and Estes Park Town Administrator Travis Machalek to a roundtable discussion about the clinics concerns.

Since November, the Estes Park Salud Foundation has been working with Jennifer Morse, the vice president of development for the Salud Family Health Centers, to raise $1 million needed to keep the Estes Park clinic open beyond May 31, 2025.

Since the start of the campaign in late December the Estes Park Salud Foundation has received two separate matching fund donations, one for $50,000 and another for $100,000. As of last week, the Foundation has received donations and pledges totaling $200,000. With just a little over four months to go, the clinic hopes it can raise the additional $800,000 needed to keep its doors open.

Other than for the capital fund drive to build the clinic in 2007, Salud has not asked the community for money, said Frisbie, but in light of the current situation, the clinic has no choice, he added.

The Estes Park Salud Clinic provides primary medical care, behavioral health services, dental care, and pharmacy services to some 2,000 medically underserved individuals in the Estes Valley who have limited access to health care.

The loss of the clinic will have a profound impact on the people and the businesses in the community, said Frisbie who hopes the Estes Valley can rally to plug the hole in the dike for 2025. However, a long-term solution must be found to ensure that people who can least afford medical care are not cut off from the primary care safety net, he added.

Salud operates 13 clinics in Colorado in addition to 10 school sites and one mobile unit. While all of the Salud Clinics are dealing with the impact of the Medicaid disenrollment, the larger clinics plan to cut staff and serve fewer individuals in order to remain open and still provide services.

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