East Adams Rural Healthcare is moving forward with plans to keep its Primary Care Clinic in Ritzville, Wash., open amid ongoing legal and financial challenges at its Ritzville Hospital.
During a March 17 board of commissioners special meeting, EARH CEO Todd Nida presented two options to maintain primary care services with at least one provider, Dallas Killian, COO of EARH, said in a statement shared with Becker’s.
The first option would be to retain one of EARH’s existing providers. The second would involve a partnership with Docs Who Care, a provider staffing organization, that would supply one or two primary care providers that rotate coverage while ensuring one provider is in the clinic each day to preserve patient consistency. Mr. Killian said a final decision has not been made yet.
“The community spoke, and we listened,” he said. “We know how important this clinic is. Many people rely on it and cannot travel 45 to 60 minutes for care, and some cannot travel at all. The community’s support has been clear, especially with the recent passage of both tax levies, one by a very narrow margin.”
The news comes after EARH said it was “fully cooperating” with authorities regarding 14 ongoing state, federal and local government investigations following the discovery earlier this year of financial fraud attributed to former leadership.
Mr. Nida said the alleged misconduct included falsified documents on a federal grant for $342,000, $930,000 in concealed accounts payable and $761,000 in combined fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid billing. Current leadership also accused former administrators of approving $1.9 million in unauthorized contracts and hiding losses totaling $10.5 million from 2022 through 2024.
EARH has since implemented stabilization efforts, including new management, two rounds of layoffs and a debt reorganization plan to help resolve $5.3 million in unsecured debt, without seeking Chapter 9 protection. It also has applied to become Washington state’s first rural emergency hospital.
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