Teton Valley Health Care Pays a Profit Share, but Flags a Billing Problem
Teton Valley Health Care paid the county a $94,749 share of its 2025 profit, but CEO Leianne Everett says the recovery still hinges on a billing fix.
DRIGGS — Teton Valley Health Care handed Teton County a $164,750 check Monday that included a $94,749 share of the hospital's 2025 profit. But the recovery behind that payout still rests on a billing operation that isn't working yet, CEO Leianne Everett told county commissioners.
The check covered two things: a $70,000 payment due the county in 2026 under the hospital's liquid-asset transfer agreement, and an additional $94,749 representing 5% of the hospital's 2025 profit, owed under the same contract because the year closed in the black. The profit share is the clearest public sign yet of the turnaround Everett described to county commissioners in May, when the hospital was ahead of budget through the first half of fiscal 2026 after January's layoffs.
Eight months into the fiscal year, the hospital is still ahead of budget. It posted a modest profit in May, and year-to-date earnings before depreciation are a modest profit, ahead of budget; after depreciation, the hospital is at a modest loss, still ahead of budget. Everett was scheduled to present the May figures to the hospital's finance committee Monday and its board Tuesday. The hospital is holding 30 days of cash on hand.
The weak point is the hospital's revenue cycle, the billing and collections operation that turns patient care into paid claims. The hospital switched to a new revenue-cycle contractor about 90 days ago, and in those first 90 days the contractor "has not been meeting expectations," Everett said. The hospital is having "the difficult conversations this week" about whether to keep the contractor or replace it again, and she does not expect measurable progress before October or November. Fixing the revenue cycle is her highest recruiting priority.
The hospital is also operating without two senior staff. Everett is backfilling the chief financial officer position, which the hospital chose not to fill late last year, and hopes to name a hire within 60 to 90 days. She is also still recruiting an executive director for the hospital's foundation.
On the clinical side, Teton Valley Health Care reported gains. Its new hospitalist model, in which clinic physicians cover inpatient care on a one-in-four rotation, is half staffed, with two of four physicians hired. Dr. Crouch, a longtime hospital physician, is already in place, and a second is set to start September 15. A general surgeon remains on track to start October 1, and Everett is in preliminary talks with a urologist about bringing part-time urology service to the valley.
The hospital has focused on rebuilding its foundation first because, Everett said, "if we can't get our revenue cycle right, none of that's going to matter."
Stroudwater Associates, the consulting firm conducting a strategic and financial review of the hospital, was on site the first week of June and returns the first week of August to report to the board. Everett expects that work to feed a new strategic plan this fall. Asked whether the hospital is still discussing a merger with a larger system, she said those conversations continue "as a backup plan," but that the board remains optimistic about a path to staying independent once Stroudwater's findings are in.
What to watch: Stroudwater's report to the hospital board the first week of August and the strategic plan expected this fall; the hospital's decision, due this week, on whether to keep or replace its revenue-cycle contractor; and Everett's expected CFO announcement within 60 to 90 days.