Cherry Valley Health Center Expected To Come in Under Town Budget for the Year

By ERIC SANTOMAURO-STENZEL
CHERRY VALLEY

The Cherry Valley Community Health Center, though facing financial challenges, is set to come in under its town-allotted budget for the year.

The town, which owns and operates the center while leasing staffing and other services from Bassett Healthcare Network, had budgeted around $800,000.00 toward the health center. At the December 11 town board meeting, officials reported it had only required approximately $236,000.00 out of the town’s budget, likely to land around $250,000.00 by year end.

“I feel good,” Town Supervisor Tom Garretson told AllOtsego after the meeting, saying he is particularly hopeful for the town’s recently created oversight board for the health center. The board has been identifying cost-cutting measures and grant opportunities.

The news comes after a November 7 New York State comptroller report warned the town could deplete its fund balance as a result of “unrealistically low” expenditure estimates for the center. Garretson had previously disputed the findings, saying the report did not account for incoming revenue.

“If you add the revenue to the expense, you’ve got over a million dollars,” which is around what it costs to run the center for a year, Garretson told AllOtsego in a prior interview.

Officials have also been working to get the health center onto a less expensive patient management software system than the one utilized by Bassett. Earlier this year, charges to the center for the service jumped from around $25,000.00 per year to around $150,000.00 per year.

“Cherry Valley Health Center is a gem, and many are to be commended for their dedication to its 40-year legacy,” Henry Weil, MD, chief clinical and academic officer of Bassett Healthcare Network and president of Bassett Medical Center said in a statement. “Bassett has partnered with the Town of Cherry Valley for many years and helped provide practitioners and other resources through a contract we have maintained with the Town.

“Arrangements between healthcare providers–like Bassett’s collaboration with Cherry Valley Health Center–require a contract that is governed by a complex set of federal and state laws and regulations,” Weil wrote. “These laws and regulations require regular assessment of our arrangement to ensure compliance and alignment with the services delivered and costs involved.

“As the overall cost of healthcare has increased, we have had to make necessary adjustments for the services we provide as part of our agreement to maintain compliance for both Bassett and the Town of Cherry Valley,” Weil explained.

Weil said Bassett “will continue to help them however we can within the constraints of federal and state laws and regulations.”

Cherry Valley officials have also set up a nonprofit to support the center, Friends of the Cherry Valley Community Health Center, and are seeking donations.