Heart Mountain Volunteer Medical Clinic board mulls offerWhich is better for the Big Horn Basin community — a free clinic with community support and limited resources, or a government-funded clinic with far more resources, but accompanied by federal red tape?That's a question Heart Mountain Volunteer Medical Clinic board members, and eventually the community, will have to wrestle with in the near future.

Dr. Nick Morris said the clinic board recently was approached by the Wyoming Primary Care Association, on behalf of the Wyoming Legislature, about converting the Heart Mountain Volunteer Medical Clinic to a community health center.

By transitioning to a community health center model, the clinic would receive federal grant money totaling between $400,000 to $700,000 per year, enabling it to remain open 40 hours per week instead of one evening weekly. The clinic still would operate under a local board, but, it wouldn't be a free clinic anymore; instead, it would operate on a sliding fee scale.

“They seemed to think Powell would be a good place, because it's between Lovell and Cody, and it's an agricultural area,” and the clinic still could have branches, he said. “Being Wyoming rugged independents, we're not exactly excited about working with the federal government,” he said. “But the ethical dilemma is, if they're going to give someone $400,000 to see eight times the number of patients, shouldn't we consider it?”

The federal Community Health Center program has been around for 44 years, Morris said.

“(Pres. George W.) Bush loved it, and Obama seems to think it's a good deal,” Morris said.

But the board is divided on the proposal.

“That's a hot issue now with the board in terms of opinions,” he said.

The board is free to accept or reject the proposal. But, Morris said one of the things board members must consider is the possibility that, if they turn the offer down, it may be extended to another community.

“Would they go somewhere else like Lovell or Cody? Yeah, they probably would.”

Another possibility could be a community health center operated out of Billings, with a Powell clinic operating as a satellite. That would mean that the governing board would be located in Billings as well, he said.

“That doesn't sound appealing to me,” he said. “That's not the way Powell works here, or Wyoming.”

No decision is expected before this fall or winter, at the earliest.

“They're coming back for a dialogue in October,” Morris said, and he expects that visit to include a community forum.

“I think the answer will become clearer as we learn more about the details.”