A FEW WORDS FROM OUR C.E.O.

Those of you who live locally have undoubtedly heard the news, as reported in the local papers, that Grace Cottage was not selected to receive a Federally Qualified Health Center grant from the federal government. We had submitted the 166-page application in April and at the end of August we learned, via a government web site, that we were not among the recipients. We have been told that we must invoke the powers of the Freedom of Information Act to learn why our application was denied. The only grant recipient in Vermont was an FQHC dental clinic in Burlington, which received $200,000 for expansion.

We spent $30,000 to generate the application; the requirements change each time, necessitating a brand new application for each round, so we are not racing to apply again. As a Critical Access Hospital (access to Grace Cottage is considered critical to the health of the community), we receive higher cost-based Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements from the government, and the same is true of our Rural Health Clinic physician practices. So Grace Cottage is fairly healthy financially, as compared to many other rural clinics and hospitals throughout the nation. As ever, eldercare is the area that is not adequately reimbursed, and it looks as if this will be the case in our society until the majority of us reach age 65 and over, and that’s happening quickly! Then we may have a lobbying group that is sufficiently powerful to effect needed changes.

My door is usually open and the coffee’s always on.

Al LaRochelle