By Mary Alice Murphy

At last Friday's Gila Regional Medical Center Board of Trustees meeting, it was alleged that the Interim Chief Financial Officer JoBeth Vance was slated to make more than $500,000 over a year of service to Gila Regional.

Vance came on board in March 2017 to address the financial issues surrounding the operations at Gila Regional.

Annualized, the payments she receives would total a bit more than two-thirds of what it is alleged she would stand to make. She works an average 79 hours a week, which she describes as getting two for one.

Vance receives a $90 per diem, but she said she purchases only fuel for the rental car she has received for her use during her tenure at the hospital. She also has a housing allowance.

"We are fixing long term problems as we find them," Vance said. She hates people to think she's milking the system, "when I'm not. I'm simply looking for problems that need to be fixed."

Chief Executive Officer Taffy Arias said the issues Vance is finding are hitting the hospital's bottom line "to the positive. She fixes them. We continue to receive positive news in our bottom line. The recent losses are partially due to the Cancer Center not being fully operational, but the positive impacts to the bottom line are due to improving the accounting and billing issues. They are primarily due to billing and accounts receivable and the time it takes to work through the system. We are putting new processes in that are transparent and hold accountable everyone involved."

The hospital has hired a permanent patient financial services person and a permanent health information management director, with Dec. 6 the last day for the consultants who have filled these positions. That will be positive to the bottom line, according to Arias.

"Looking at the millions we are saving, what we are paying Vance dwarfs in comparison," Arias said.

Trustees agreed that Vance is improving the hospital finances, including dealing with and fixing problems that have hung over Gila Regional for many years.

At the Nov. 17, 2017 board meeting, the following are comments made by the trustees after the public comment allegations.

"With all due respect," Trujillo said, "and I know public input does not receive answers, but when you are comparing numbers, it's apples to oranges. What we're paying JoBeth is well below the standards of what she's worth. I ask you to look at the salaries of CFOs at similar-sized hospitals, like Deming, Lovington and Artesia. I think you'll be surprised. I'm all for being competitive. For professionals, we have to be competitive."

Board Chairman Jeremiah Garcia said what the hospital is paying Vance is not even close to what past CFOs have been paid. "She has done an outstanding job. If we had not had her here, we might be closed by now. We still have days of cash on hand and no debt. We knew we would have a loss with the cancer center transition. We've had CFOs in the past who have not found the problems she has found. She has ethics, morals and a work ethic. I want to personally thank Mrs. Vance. She understands the compliance and regulations that go into hospital finances. It's not just balancing a checkbook."

Trustee Mike Morones said: "She's finding every problem. That's how we fix it. I'm an accountant, but she has given us 10 years of education in just a few months."