Hospital CEO says federal law will cost Southwest Health millions
Joe Theine told a press conference the Cortez system faces a $9.6 million annual revenue drop by 2033 under H.R. 1, against $1.1 million in state rural health money.
The head of Cortez’s hospital system said this week that federal health care cuts will take far more out of its budget than the state money meant to soften them will put back, KSJD reported Tuesday.
Southwest Health System chief executive Joe Theine said the system expects to receive $1.1 million from Colorado’s Rural Health Transformation Program, while projecting that H.R. 1 — the 2025 federal budget law — will cut its annual revenue by $9.6 million by 2033. Southwest Health System runs Southwest Memorial Hospital in Cortez, a 20-bed critical access hospital.
“A hospital like ours cannot operate in perpetuity with a $7 million-a-year loss,” Theine said, according to the station. He put the system’s current operating income at $1 million to $2 million a year.
State Rep. Katie Stewart, whose district takes in most of Montezuma County, said the rural health program does not match the size of the problem. “That’s what the Rural Health Transformation Program is, a bandage for a hemorrhage,” she said. Stewart said her district has a higher share of Medicare and Medicaid patients than most.
They were speaking at a virtual press conference organized by Protect Our Care, a nonprofit that campaigns on health care policy. H.R. 1, which passed in 2025, reduced federal spending on Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.
KSJD’s report is on the station’s website.