Update on UCHealth Affiliation Presented at Park Hospital District Board of Directors Meeting
The Park Hospital District Board of Directors held their monthly public board meeting on Wednesday, June 25.
After approving two resolutions – one to update the PHD bylaws effective upon the closing of the UCHealth-Estes Park Health affiliation and a second to update the signatories for banking purposes to reflect the new board officers – two strategic reports were delivered.
The first was from Vern Carda, CEO of Estes Park Health, who, with a note of encouragement and enthusiasm, summarized the town hall meeting held with all EPH staff and UCHealth leaders on June 18.
“We are in the important relationship forming stage of working with UCHealth,” said Carda. “One of the important activities we’ve done this far occurred last Wednesday, June 18, when several town hall meetings were held at Estes Park Health, hosted by UCHealth. They were really important because they start to establish the relationship and an atmosphere of goodwill.”
Carda described the meetings as helpful opportunities for EPH employees to ask questions about the future affiliation, emphasizing that the employees asked great questions. Some of these questions included topics like UCHealth remote work policies, pay rates, benefits, job descriptions, job titles and scrub colors.
“There was a lot of information exchanged,” said Carda. “I think one of the best outcomes of the meeting from last Wednesday was the idea that it helped to relieve and reduce a little bit of the anxiety of the employees. We look forward to continuing to build on that day and that relationship.”
Carda also updated the community about the status of the affiliation process, noting that confirmation has been received from the Colorado Attorney General’s office regarding receipt of the transaction documents. The Attorney General’s office has requested some additional information, which EPH and UCHealth leadership are completing.
Another part of the affiliation process that has begun is the Change in Ownership (CHOW). This will impact payers so they know EPH will be an affiliate of UCHealth.
Carda’s final update was related to staff changes at EPH. Since the last board meeting, a new internal medicine physician has been identified as a strong candidate with the hope to have the new person in place by September. The Chief Financial Officer Aysha Douglas has resigned from Estes Park Health. Stepping into the role will be Pamela Serbin, who has worked at EPH since 2023. After the departure of Pat Samples as Chief Nursing Officer, Ben Hetrick was promoted to Interim Chief Nursing Officer.
In his first meeting as interim CNO, Hetrick gave a brief report about working on the nursing leadership structure and completing the nurse call system in the next few weeks. Hetrick summarized how he is building a robust nursing staff, including the anticipation of adding new positions and instituting an organization that will be accepted by UCHealth with little if any changes once EPH becomes an affiliate in the larger hospital system.
The next public board meeting of the Park Hospital District will take place on Wednesday, July 30, 2025 at 5:30 p.m. The meeting will be in-person and online. Visit https://eph.org/about-us/board-of-directors/meeting-information-revised/ to register for the online viewing.