Bonners Ferry Health and Welfare to be shuttered

BONNERS FERRY — Bad fiscal news continues to beset the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, and Boundary County is going to suffer.

On Tuesday, the department verified that nine of 29 local offices across the state, including the one in Bonners Ferry, will be shuttered, and 126 workers will be laid off. In addition, they announced that Medicare and Medicaid budgets are nearly dried up, and that hospitals, nursing homes and others that provide care through these programs, including Boundary Community Hospital and the extended care facility, will go weeks without payment until the new fiscal year begins in July.

John Taft, owner of the building occupied by the Bonners Ferry Health and Welfare Office, said he was notified that the office would be closed on Tuesday, though he doesn't yet know when the building will be empty.

“The lease is up at the end of June and they prepaid their lease,” he said, “so I would assume it will be vacated by July 1.”

IDHW public information Tom Shanahan said that the timing of the closure of the nine offices hasn't yet been determined exactly, though it is likely that most offices will be empty sometime in May.

“Most of the employees being laid off will stay on until May 18,” he said. “Exact closure dates will depend on the individual lease arrangements.”

Of the eight employees staffing the Bonners Ferry office, Shanahan said, two will be laid off, the rest will be transferred to other offices.

Workers being laid off were officially notified Tuesday morning.

In addition to the closure in Bonners Ferry, health and welfare offices in American Falls, Bellevue, Emmett, Jerome, McCall, Orofino, Rupert and Soda Springs will be closed. The services available in the St. Maries office will be reduced to child welfare and mental health services only; all other services will be handled through the Coeur d'Alene office.

All services currently provided at the Bonners Ferry office will be shifted to the Sandpoint-Ponderay office, 207 Larkspur St., Ponderay.

The closures and layoffs are expected to save the department $7-million; the total department shortfall is around $135-million.

Those who rely on assistance can visit the department's website, www.healthandwelfare.idaho.gov, or call the Idaho Care Line, 2-1-1.

Medicare and Medicaid providers from around the state were notified about two weeks ago that there would be delays in payment, but none were told when those delays would begin or how long they would last.

Boundary Community Hospital CEO Craig Johnson said he's been working to make arrangements to cover the expected eight- to 12-week shortfall, which accounts for about $220,000 per month, but he said he was still waiting to hear when the payments will stop.

“Right now, payments are still coming in,” he said. “We're making arrangements with local lenders to carry us through, but we're still waiting to hear when it will go into effect so we can finalize our plans.”

It is estimated that the shortfall could cost the hospital as much as $7,000 in interest.

Last year, IDHW had to delay Medicare and Medicaid payments for about a week to offset a budget shortfall until the new budget year began, and the initial 12-week estimate forecast for this year has been scaled back to eight- to 10-weeks before the end of the fiscal year, according to Shanahan, meaning payments could start being delayed as early as April 19.

“There is no exact date as yet,” he said.

“We will continue to provide services,” Johnson said of Boundary Community Hospital, “but we won't see payment until July. It is an interesting problem, and it makes one concerned for what will happen this time next year.”

“We just hope the economy picks up,” Shanahan said. “These reductions are very painful.”