Your life.
Well, good afternoon everyone. Welcome
to our city council work session. Today
is Monday, June 22nd.
If you'll all join me, we'll stand and
offer a moment of silence for our men
and women of the military and our also
our brave women and men from the police
and fire department that protect our
city 24/7 365.
If you join me in the pledge.
I pledge allegiance to the
of the United States of America.
And to the republic for which it stands.
One nation under God. Indivisible, with
liberty and justice for all.
All right, well, we'll start off with
item 1.1 on our agenda. It's Mountain
View Medical presentation and I believe
we have the CEO
Patrick Sullivan. Come on.
Shannon.
I'm sorry.
Shannon.
Patrick.
Shannon.
Thank you, Mayor and Council members.
Thank you for allowing me to be here
today. It's an honor.
Uh as Mayor said, my name is Patrick
Shannon, CEO for Mountain View Regional.
I've been there for about a little over
4 months now. So, I'm I'm new to Las
Cruces and it's been very nice to be
here. Moved here. I've got a I bought a
house here. So, I'm here permanently.
So, I'll go ahead and start with the
presentation. Wanted to show you guys a
few things.
[music]
Let's see.
Oh.
I clicked off.
Okay, boy.
Is it the city of Las Cruces community
benefit? Is that the Okay.
There we go.
All right.
I'm remembering my days. Okay.
So, this is the agenda.
Uh just to tell you a little bit more
about Mountain View and the overview and
what we've been doing at the hospital.
Also want to give the community benefit
report, which I think the the council
will find interesting in what Mountain
View contributes to the economy. Uh
we'll go through our quality and patient
safety information, access to care, the
economic impact,
um and then
something that's very important to
people in the community is what
physicians are we trying to recruit uh
to the area and then our growth plans.
This is our vision uh to make the health
care ex- experience exceptional for our
patients, for the community, and each
other. Simple vision statement uh but
something that is easy easy for our
staff and and physicians to remember.
And then we have our new values and
actions.
Values in action. And so you'll see put
the patient first, work as a team, own
it, always do the right thing, never
settle, and then lead the way. And so
when we're giving like in you know
nominations for employee of the month uh
in all of our meetings, our board
meetings, and things that when we open
up we tie in a story into one of these
values in action. And so that really
kind of makes it resonate and uh with
our employees.
These are our top five priorities.
Uh you'll see these are in uh
uh in order. So we put quality first. So
we've got then patient experience,
um the physician experience, and
employee satisfaction or their
engagement. And then if you're doing
those first four things right, the cash
flow will come after that.
The financials will follow. So
um
we have made it uh
a very important decision to put quality
first at MountainView.
This is some of the things that we're
recognized for, excellence in trauma.
And I'll talk a little bit more in in on
the next slide about
uh MountainView being a level three
trauma facility.
Uh we're also certified in stroke,
cardiac, bariatric surgery, maternal and
neonatal services for our babies.
So to put things into perspective, you
know, so MountainView opened in 2002.
Um
and
now in in 2025,
I think we're at 24 years now. This this
year.
But you'll see that we were doing about
3,200 emergency room visits. And so
we're up over 47,000
uh ER visits now.
See the surgeries, 1,300 in a year.
Now we're going to probably do we did
over 12,000 surgeries in 25. We'll we'll
go past that number in 2026.
And then you'll see the employees
wrapped almost 1,500 employees and then
taxes paid started back then at 200,000
local taxes now approaching over uh 35
million annually
uh in taxes.
You guys probably know better than me,
but this is our our main campus. We have
five buildings in that spot. Uh the main
hospital's building number one, number
two is our kind of out patient pavilion.
Building three is a large medical office
building.
That's where our urgent care center and
our surgery center is located. Plus
a lot of doctors' offices. So a lot
going on in that building. Building four
is mainly where our primary care is, the
Rio Grande building, and then building
five is our pediatric or children's
center.
So by the numbers, we're licensed for
168 beds. Uh the hospital feels like it
operates like a 300 bed facility with
all the things that are going on with
level three trauma and the like.
Uh we have 32 emergency room beds, 23
intensive care unit beds.
And I'll tell you those 23 beds stay
busy.
They're often full and a lot of times
we're doing everything we can not to
transfer out or decline patients.
We have 14 operating rooms, seven
primary care clinics.
Three urgent care centers. The one is
adjacent to us in building uh three.
As I mentioned earlier, and then we have
two others
in the community and then a free
standing emergency room as well in
addition to our main ER.
We have two cath labs.
Um
and then 11 specialty care clinics and
then of course the outpatient surgery
center that has four operating rooms and
two procedure rooms in it as well. And
that that's a picture of members of our
dynamic perioperative team. We have a
fantastic surgical team. They do great
work there at the in the in the OR.
So, big announcement. I want to uh thank
the mayor for coming out this past
Friday. The The hospital has achieved a
Leapfrog safety score of A. This is a
This is a huge thing. Only like 7% of
the hospitals in the country achieve
this. We're one of two
in the state of New Mexico to have
achieved an A.
Um
and the only one in the county. Um
so, a lot goes into this. This is built
day by day. This isn't something that is
done overnight. Uh it takes a while. The
So, hats off to our physicians, our
providers, the nurses
uh throughout the hospital that work
everyday on patient safety. And a lot
goes into this. And to break it down a
little bit, you'll see preventable
medical errors.
They look at hospital acquired
infections, uh medication safety, and
then safety protocols and clinical best
practices.
So,
the organization, that being Leapfrog,
rates every hospital in the country A to
F.
Um
and so, they pull this data so and
compare it to all the other hospitals.
And so, this is something that we're
going to work hard on to maintain and
sustain
um because the county deserves this, the
city deserves this. This is something
that we're proud of and we want to make
sure that our patients have a great
experience but a safe experience.
So, our community knows that most of
people in the community know that
MountainView is the only level three
trauma in Southern New Mexico. So, we
have a lot of patients coming into us.
We have probably over 250 patients a
month that are transferred into
MountainView from various areas
outside of the county.
Uh and
we have a orthopedic trauma surgeon, Dr.
Johnson, who's fantastic and the entire
orthopedic team. We have quite a few
orthopedic surgeons,
general surgery, trauma trained, trauma
you know, acute level type general
surgeons that that help build this team.
So, we have rapid access
uh and the hospitals in surrounding
areas transfer to us for that higher
level of care.
And so, that is something that we'll
continue to work on and sustain.
Um
there has been some recent discussion
about the idea of MountainView going to
a level two trauma center.
Um
I think that will come in time. We have
to make sure that we have certain things
in place structurally and and enough
specialties. I I will have to build up
our general surgery team to accommodate
that. But, our orthopedic trauma surgeon
is asking for another orthopedic trauma
surgeon to help him in that endeavor and
so, that's a good sign. And a big part
of it is having physicians that are, you
know, willing to be a part of that. And
so, that's uh
that's great. Great to see that.
So, the impact for Las Cruces
in 2025, $239
million in total community benefit. Of
that, 137 million in annual payroll,
30 half 35 and a half million in taxes
paying.
We did we had 10 million in capital
investments and then we've had over 600
uh excuse me 610,000
patient encounters in 2025 and that
continues to grow. Uh so seeing a lot of
patients in the year.
To add to that,
uncompensated care, you know, we're a
for-profit entity but we do our fair
share of uncompensated care meaning
charity as well and that was uh in the
neighborhood of $61 million
for the year.
Uh also providing access to our
emergency care centers and in addressing
social determinants of health as we
partner with entities in the county and
the city to address those issues.
So you guys probably know we have the
Jars of Love campaign that we do every
year. Last year in 2025
uh
we were able to get over 4,700 jars of
peanut butter that are donated. This
year in 2026
uh we were over 6,700 6 6,713
jars collected and so
uh that is a great uh partnership with
Casa de Peregrinos and we continue to do
this uh and support the community in
that endeavor.
Clinical excellence in cardiac and
women's health. Uh so with the cath lab
we're working on
renovating our cath labs now.
Uh one of them's in the process
uh or soon to be in the process. We've
got the purchase order issued and we'll
be changing out that cath lab here
starting uh um in the next month or two.
And then right after that, we'll change
out the second one.
And that is to provide that higher level
of care and state-of-the-art equipment
that the city deserves that our our
patients in the community deserve.
Also with that, our OBGYN services are
very strong. We have you know,
uh five OBGYNs plus midwives that are
delivering.
So, we do a lot of work. Dr. Reddy
uh Mulamalla has done over a thousand
robotic cases. We get lots of feedback
on him um from a GYN perspective using
the da Vinci robot. Um we have two
robots at MountainView. Uh but he's very
skilled at that.
And so, we get feedback from surgeons in
Texas and other states
uh that send uh patients his way uh
because of the quality of work that he
does. And he's probably one of the
busiest OBGYNs in not only in the state,
but honestly in the in the country.
Right.
So,
if you did know, we have a uh graduate
medical education program. We have
residents physician residents. So,
residents are
These are physicians that have already
gone through med school and they're
training to be you know, to and we have
an internal medicine physician. And we
have 45 plus.
I think that number is growing. And and
we also have a transitional year and an
osteopathic neuromuscular uh medicine uh
program. And
those residents, once they finish with
us, you know, they're going into
practice in other areas.
Um we try to retain as many as we can
here for Las Cruces, but it's a good
feeder.
Um
and so, we see them. We get to know the
ones that are really strong and then
make approaches to them to keep them
either as a hospitalist or perhaps even
working in clinics or other areas. Some
of them go on to be, you know,
sub-specialized in cardiology,
radiology, and other things of that
nature. In fact, we had a graduating
class 2 weeks ago.
Uh we graduated 20 residents.
And of that, five of them went into
radiology, which is phenomenal because
radiology is
uh a difficult specialty to recruit now.
The whole country is short on radiology.
And so
a lot of teleradiology is occurring
where people are reading images from
afar.
Uh but we need radiologists on the
ground for procedures and things of that
nature. Um and so it's good to see those
those guys getting back into it.
Um we also have
a lot of engagement with the schools
here in in in the city. Uh we are
open-armed and very and we welcome all
the schools
uh and programs to have students rotate
through the hospital cuz we want to grow
them, get them interested uh in health
care, and and hopefully they'll they'll
stay and work here in the community.
We also have a nurse residency. So when
they come out of nursing school, they
come out with their degrees,
when they come to us, we put them in
another year residency after they've
graduated nursing school. And that's
just to strengthen
their competency level, their their uh
confidence, to make sure that they're
they feel good about what they're doing.
Uh and that has been very rewarding.
We've been able to really uh
uh train and retain nurses through this
program, and it's it's I think that has
also been a big part of the reason why
we've been able to achieve a Leapfrog
score of A.
So the here's just a list
of new providers. So we're
you know, we're in heavy recruiting mode
from from a physician standpoint. So the
top two gentlemen, Dr. Richardson
Richardson and Dr. Aneen
are new cardiothoracic surgeons that
have joined Dr. Dow. Dr. Dow will
probably, you know, sometime soon. He
hasn't really committed to a date yet,
but he'll probably begin to retire at
some point.
But these two gentlemen are joining the
team.
And then they get here, he's signed and
will probably get here in August. Dr.
Richardson is already here.
And so we are putting a lot of resources
into our cardiovascular program to be
able to do hearts and and vascular
surgery here
in Las Cruces.
We've got cardiologists, vascular
surgeons coming in. We've got foot and
ankle surgeons, a lot of primary care as
well. We know that primary care is
needed. We we track them, you know, how
long it takes to get an appointment with
primary care physicians. And so we're
going to continue to add family
medicine, internal medicine, and
pediatrics
to support the health care system.
So future plans, we do need to expand
our footprint as as I was telling you,
168 beds with our ICU of 23
many times full.
And so what happens is our emergency
room gets backed up as we're trying to
get these patients into the hospital.
And when the emergency room is backed
up, it causes longer waits, which nobody
likes, right? When they're in the
emergency room. So we want to address
that.
So we're addressing it not only with
staff and physicians, but capacity. And
so we're looking to expand our footprint
here in the
near future.
And we'll have additional information
for that relatively soon. And we want to
make sure that we get with the with the
mayor and the city council about those
plans.
Uh we feel like probably adding another
60 plus beds are needed to accommodate
the growth and the demand that we're
seeing here
in the hospital. And that will also
incorporate more ICU beds and and a
cardiovascular type ICU bed for more
vascular work as well. Um
And when we look at the number of the
types of patients that we're
transferring out or declining because we
cannot accommodate them, that's kind of
driving this need for for more growth
from a footprint standpoint.
Sleep lab is another one we're probably
going to end up doubling that that
capacity. A lot of our
physician Dr. [clears throat] Claire is
extremely busy in that sleep lab.
Often times has access way out meaning
when you need an appointment it takes a
while to get there get get an
appointment. So we want to get that
rectified and and then grow that. We
need to grow our and renovate our
neonatal intensive care unit with our
babies.
And so we're keeping smaller babies than
before and we'll continue to grow that
so that moms are and parents and family
members don't have to travel so far when
their loved ones are are in a NICU cuz
when they're in a NICU they're there for
a while, right? So we want to be able to
accommodate those those babies here in
Las Cruces. Then like I mentioned the
cath lab, also putting resources into
that and
looking to recruit more interventional
cardiologist there.
Here's a list of all the specialist that
we're recruiting.
And so we spend a lot of time
you know, interviewing, vetting,
bringing providers in uh the community
and so uh um
you know, the main thing there is to
uh have these specialties that we where
we have gaps uh and to help grow uh the
the MountainView system so that so that
we can better accommodate the city um
and surrounding areas.
So, in conclusion
you know, MountainView remains a
cornerstone of Las Cruces the economy
and a vital safety net for the
community.
Uh our our focus as we mentioned is to
advance uh our cardiac care uh
cardiovascular
uh to retain the workforce through our
in our GME
is huge for us. I mean that I think
that's something that we need to grow as
well and grow our own doctors here.
We work very closely with the Burrell
College of Medicine from a medical
student or uh yeah, medical student
standpoint have those
medical students rotating through the
hospital as well.
Um and so that will help to improve the
access to quality health care here in
the city.
So, I appreciate your time. Thank you
very much. I wanted to keep it as brief
as possible but we'll entertain any
questions that you may have.
Well, thank you Patrick. Thank you for
coming today and sharing the information
and uh we also appreciate the
partnership in the community and once
again congratulations on earning the
grade A. That's that's huge for you,
your staff, everyone that works towards
that and for our community as well.
Thank you, Mayor.
I'll see if any of the council have any
questions.
Councilor Harris.
Um thank you, Mayor and thank you for
the presentation. Um
I got a couple questions. Uh the first
is you know, since you mentioned
expanding the footprint um
and working with the city to do that are
you open to well, hopefully
I
as we're looking to like redevelop the
that East Lohman plan area. Um
so, you know, hope hopefully are you
guys open to coordinating with the city
and working with us to do like new
traffic patterns and access. Um like
those medians need to be landscaped and
stuff and, you know, are there some
partnerships there?
Yeah, I would say absolutely. I know
that
our um
architects and engineers that we've been
working with on the development,
um
you know, I've been pushing them saying,
"Hey, we we we, you know, we're we need
to get with the city and the county from
an infrastructure standpoint."
We're waiting for
uh corporate-level approval at the
company level.
Uh and then that will give us the kind
of green light at that point. But to
answer your question, yes, absolutely,
we would we would like to partner with
you on that.
Cool, that'd be great. Um
and then the next two questions are kind
of related. Um
So, I'll ask them both.
Uh so,
one is you know, on slide six, um it
looks like the ER visits increase at a
quite a bit
greater rate than all of the other uh
visits.
Um and so, I'm curious if you could if
you had any thoughts about why that is
and and I think you also mentioned that
you've been partnering with
organizations to look at the
social impacts, you know, the the
non-medical impacts to health.
Um and then the other part of that
question is would you be um
willing to provide your financial
assistance policy and the eligibility
requirements uh specifically um
that you know, governs how how you
provide the the indigent care.
Yeah, I think from a on the first
question, ED growth or emergency room
growth, I think that
it's just something that um many
hospitals are seeing across the the
country.
A lot of times, you know, patients will
go to the emergency room versus their
primary care physician. So, you'll have
that's probably going to outpace
the surgical volumes and admissions. And
in some of the admissions,
we continue to see growth in admissions,
but a lot of hospitals are seeing a
decline and a shift to the outpatient
setting as as
insurance companies and other entities
are more involved in trying to keep
costs of health care down.
But, I think that growth in the
emergency room also
is part of
when Mountain View added the the second
emergency room at the freestanding. And
there's some thoughts about whether or
not we should add another one or an
urgent care center. We have three. Um
but often times, the urgent care center
you know, you can only do so much. So,
if we did a another freestanding
emergency room,
you know, it could be something that
could benefit the community. Just trying
to determine where that might be.
Uh in terms of our
like charity care work and things of
that nature and our discounts, yeah,
absolutely. And I can We have a new
chief financial officer.
Doug
Sassenger and he joined us from um
Lake Havasu, Arizona and
glad to have him. I think he's been with
us like two or three weeks. So, um
but I'll get with him uh
when I get back to the office. Yeah,
that's something I think that's
something we can do.
Okay. Yeah, that would be that would be
very much appreciated. Um
and just for
our knowledge benefit, what's the
difference between
stand-alone emergency room and the one
in the hospital? Do they provide exactly
the same services?
Yeah, they're both
same services
just at a different location. And but
when a patient has to be admitted, a lot
of times we will have them transported
through our main ER just to be looked at
one more time before they go to the the
floor.
Sometimes they can go straight to the
floor, but often times we'll have them
just looked at just to make sure
everything is okay. But by and large now
an urgent care center is different. It's
kind of like
in between that free standing emergency
room and a primary care physician's
office. A little bit more urgent in
nature
um
than a primary care physician's office
but not not emergent. Um but the free
standing allows us to provide a higher
level of emergent care to the to the
patient off campus you know in a
location where they may not be able to
get to the the main hospital fast
enough. Yeah.
Okay. Thanks. That's all the questions I
got.
Councilor Carter.
Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for the
presentation. Um I I'm curious I know
you sort of allude very lightly alluded
to this with the conversation about
trauma being a trauma
center, but I know that lots of folks
come here from other
areas outside of the the sort of central
part of Las Cruces. I'm curious
um
if you all are working on kind of a plan
for what if
we continue on the trajectory I think
set between seven and nine hospitals in
rural New Mexico are going to close in
the next few years. It's anticipated. Um
I'm wondering if you all are
readying yourselves for that or if
that's part of the conversations about
trauma and I suspect there are a few
other areas that you have that you're
kind of the place that people come to
and what impact that might have on your
capacity to serve um as that transition
happens which I think is as far as I
know still happening. Um just looming
there in the next 2 years or something,
but
I don't know if you can talk a little
bit about that or if you're if you
that's not you're just hoping it doesn't
happen which I think is what everyone
feels.
No, I I think that's a great point. I I
think that uh
we we can see it in our own numbers that
the number of transfers increasing um
year over year, that number continues to
to climb. And so, I think that is part
of the reason why we see the need to
expand our footprint at the main campus
and can do so
um without adding a a uh a fifth level
across the entire hospital. We can do
some different things to increase the
bed capacity. Mainly critical care. Uh I
mean, we are
med surge is going to be
an addition as well, but critical care
is is a very important. We have a
step-down unit
where when patients come into the ICU
and ICU and let's say they get
stabilized, we can step them down to our
our
IMC unit that is 18 beds, but often that
is full as well.
So, we have to address that. And to your
point, if if that if these areas across
Southern New Mexico continue to need a
place to transfer to, we're going to
have to get ready for that. And that's
why we're planning this expansion uh to
do so in addition to adding the service
lines because
you know, MountainView has to continue
to grow from uh
uh you know, potentially could we become
more of a tertiary type facility maybe
down the road, but I we've got to start
heading in that direction now. Uh
certainly sooner than later.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Yes, ma'am.
[snorts]
Councilor McEachern.
Uh Mr. Shannon, thank you for the
presentation. I
it brings back memories when I did the
groundbreaking as mayor for that
hospital. I think with John with Mr.
Hummer.
yes, sir.
Um
you find that you know, you mentioned
the specialties and I noticed my I have
a daughter in the the medical field.
And she says more specialties are coming
in. Is that because of the malpractice
reform? Do you find that you're it's
easier to be recruiting
and even maybe um
attracting more people that could handle
the trauma
and burn type facilities and when we
have tragic happenings?
I That's a great question. I think that
that definitely helps. You know, the
um
the recent was it House Bill 99 that
passed? I mean, that certainly is going
to help with those conversations.
Uh
MountainView has also
and I I don't know about MMC, but
we're starting to employ more and I
think um we've had to do that. And so,
there's been a there you know, before
quite a few independent physicians.
Those independent physicians are are you
know, have to tough it out on their own,
but when they're part of the
MountainView organization and we employ
them, we can help
when it comes to med mal, medical
malpractice.
Um and I think that is
helped to kind of not maybe not
alleviate, but ease their concerns. Uh
but also just just really promoting Las
Cruces and and the area. I mean, it's a
great place to live. Uh people love it
here when they're when they once they
come here. Um
and
I drive to work. It takes me 10 minutes
to get to work, you know, when I lived
in Houston, it was an hour each way. And
so,
I think it's it's important to sell all
the great things about Las Cruces to
these physicians. Um and then as we
continue to add. So, yes, if I have
cardiovascular and I'm
and I'm speaking to a pure vascular
surgeon, it's going to help that I have
cardiovascular surgeons there at
Mountain View to get that vascular
surgeon to to pay attention to us and
vice versa. And so, if I tell um or they
have more interventional cardiology or I
have orthopedic trauma surgeons, you
know, then I have more orthopedic
surgeons that will want to come on
board. So, as you start to build it, it
makes it a little bit easier and but I
think that conversation around employing
does help.
Yeah.
Councilor Bencomo.
Hi, thank you so much for um coming here
today as a healthcare partner. That's
it's very important for us to to be in
this kind of relationship with you. So,
appreciate it and welcome to Las Cruces.
Thank you.
I'm curious about um actually going off
of Councilor Corrine's question. You
know, we've been I've been seeing some
news across the state about some
hospitals in up northern New Mexico
making some serious cuts to, you know,
like Medicaid, our advantage programs
and things like that. I'm curious about
the impact of the big beautiful bill on
um MountainView particularly if you're
starting to see some of those impacts
on, you know, major slashing from
federal funding and and how you think
you'll
cushion that or um what kind of
conversations we should be in in order
to prepare for perhaps even more
uninsured folks in Las Cruces or the
county.
Yeah, great question. Um
putting things into perspective and I'm
coming from Texas and so, I find that
the HDAA program with New Mexico
is better than the program that Texas
has. Um we called it the alphabet
everybody. Just clip that, put that
somewhere.
Yeah, we we called it the alphabet soup
in Texas, but it was
a lot of programs, very convoluted,
difficult to manage.
I feel that the state here New Mexico is
supporting the hospitals in a good way.
Now, the
the rural transformation funding,
uh the hospitals in Las Cruces may or
may not qualify because of the size of
the county, but there are portions
[snorts]
of Doña Ana County that may qualify. So,
there's it's still kind of up in the
air.
Uh but, other hospitals in New Mexico
will definitely benefit uh in that
endeavor. And we have
two sister facilities, one in Carlsbad
and one in Roswell, and and they're
they're going to benefit from those
programs. But,
the HDAA supplemental funding from the
state uh is is a good one. I would say I
would characterize it as a good program.
I We have to manage it, make sure that
we're
hitting all the quality metrics and the
key performance indicators that are in
place, and that that puts the onus on
hospitals to make sure they're doing a
good job, providing good care, safe
care. Um and so,
uh
you know, we're up for that challenge,
and
I think from that standpoint, it's good
for the community, you know, for
hospitals to be able to take care of
patients.
Um
but, I know the landscape is always
changing, and that's something that we
continue to stay close to to make sure
that we can adjust as necessary. Um
and
that's that's one thing MountainView has
has been uh
it does well, you know, it's a it's an
organization
that has
is able to put things into place to make
sure that it succeeds.
Um because we have to have a a hospital
that can succeed and and and do the
things that are necessary in this
county. Uh I would say MMC's probably in
a similar boat, not the same boat, so I
think Las Cruces has strong health care.
Um
you know, as it relates to the hospital
and the physicians, we just need to
bring in more specialties into the
community.
I don't know if I answered your
question.
thank you. I I think you're right that
the landscape is sort of just always
changing. And so I appreciate that and
the open flows of communication as we
enter some of these harder
um times for folks. And obviously in the
entire state, but certainly in Doña Ana
County, we have a high percentage of
uninsured and underinsured folks. So
those are always important
conversations.
Absolutely.
to ask you a little bit of a tougher
question. I I This is before your time.
I want to caveat that, but it was at top
of mind as I was thinking about today's
work session. I know that last year
MountainView settled with some uh
patients who had brought a lawsuit
around the
um patient debt collection protection
act. I'm wondering if you're familiar
with that and what kind of practices
MountainView has implemented to to
ensure that folks who are underinsured
or lack insurance aren't um falling into
this debt trap.
Actually, I'm not familiar with that
one, but I will definitely uh follow up
on it. So um
and that may speak to So patient debt
collection, is that what you're saying?
Okay.
Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. Yeah.
I'll just jump in for a
give you a just a brief answer on that.
That actually happened before my time as
well. My name is Make sure you say your
name.
Sure. Stephanie Guardiola, the um
marketing director at the hospital.
Um but the actual collection part
happened from our parent company.
And so the that practice has since
changed.
So that won't be happening again.
Love those kinds of answers. Thank you
so much.
Thank you, Stephanie.
Thanks again.
Yeah.
[clears throat]
Mayor Pro Tem.
Thank you, Mayor. Uh Mayor, city
councilors, Mr. Shannon, thank you for
the presentation.
Um
you mentioned partnership and I'd like
to ask you what we can do to to help.
Uh and you might have the answer now or
or later.
But uh the trajectory is just um it's
going to be incredible incredible
growth. There's and there's an
incredible need here in our community.
I'm glad that you are seems like you're
vested in our community already. I've
seen you can't believe it's been 4
months. I've seen you out and about uh
at different uh events and and
gatherings. I'm glad you you purchased a
home instead of leasing one. It shows
that that you're uh staying here. I
understand that one of your children is
interested in NMSU. Like an update on
that as well. Um we can just get you a
library card and then you're legit Las
Cruces. So welcome to Las Cruces.
Thank you.
But um you know think about the the plan
um
is is so my colleagues have mentioned
you know there there are needs. Uh
there's there's growth.
Um and our residents need services. So
when it comes to partnership um let us
know whether it's it's today some ideas
or some ideas in the future how we can
help.
Thank you very much. I appreciate that.
Yeah.
I think uh timeline wise if if uh
we receive final approval from our
corporate board we could you know maybe
look into break ground uh early spring
of 27
with a 2-year build. Uh but during that
process obviously we'll be in close
coordination with you guys and yeah we'd
definitely be open-minded about
partnering.
Yeah.
And so no luck yet with my stepson. I'm
trying to get him to
he's a rodeo guy. He's a healer. I'm
trying to get him into the university
but we'll see.
Okay. Well let us know how we can help.
Thank you.
Thank you Mayor.
All right. Again thank you. Thank you
for taking the time and joining us and
providing the information. We appreciate
all that you do for our community.
Thank you, man. Thanks again. It was a
pleasure. Thank you.
Next is agenda item 1.2. It's the opioid
settlement funds.
Wes Smith.
I'm going to use a script this time so
that I don't use any trite expressions.
Sir.
Wes, I've never heard you say something
trite that wasn't awesome. So
Go awesome or be really excited about?
Uh I was excited about it. So please
don't edit those out.
Okay.
All right. Um good afternoon, Mayor,
Mayor Pro Tem,
and Council.
My name is Wes Smith. I'm a case manager
with the Las Cruces Fire Department and
designated to help guide designated to
help guide our efforts surrounding the
opioid settlement funds.
Today I'll be presenting an overview of
the city's opioid settlement
expenditures and progress to date and
answer any questions you all might have.
Today we will briefly be covering the
background on the national settlement
agreements,
the core strategies, goals, settings,
and populations that have been selected,
prevention programs funded to date,
treatment and recovery programs funded,
and finally anticipated next steps.
To ground our discussion, I want to
start with federal data tools we use.
HIDTA, the High Intensity Drug
Trafficking Areas Program, and the OD
Map Overdose Mapping System, help us
understand regional overdose trends,
including both fatal and non-fatal
events.
These tools are extremely valuable. They
confirm what our local responders
already know. Overdoses continue to
affect our community in significant
ways, and a coordinated strategy a
coordinated strategy is essential.
Over the next series of slides, you'll
see a 10-year visualization of overdose
activity across our region.
What these heat maps make clear is that
we are not dealing with isolated or
sporadic incidents.
Each year shows sustained and sometimes
intensifying activity.
This long-term trend underscores why the
city's careful stewardship of opioid
settlement funds is not only justified,
but critical.
These maps help us identify pockets of
heightened need,
guiding how we target programs
geographically.
The city is estimated to receive just
over 9.8 million through 2038.
As of June 2026, we've received about
3.8 million dollars.
These funds come from settlements with
distributors, manufacturers, and
retailers.
And their use is governed very
specifically by agreement by the
agreement to ensure they address opioid
related harm.
Importantly, these dollars are highly
structured.
The settlement agreement requires that
spending directly address opioid related
harms, ensuring funds cannot drift
toward unrelated budget needs.
This structure gives us both
accountability and protection as we plan
long-term strategies.
All expenditures must align with the
allowable uses in an E of the national
settlement Agreement.
This includes a set of strategies,
goals, settings, and target populations
that ensure we invest in evidence-based
and community-focused approaches.
The city and county, with guidance from
the Opioid Settlement Advisory Council,
have jointly selected several core
strategies, including
medication-assisted treatment, warm
handoff and recovery services,
prevention programming, and improved
data collection and reporting.
These strategies reflect a balanced
approach, supporting individuals
actively struggling with substance use,
while also investing in upstream
prevention for youth and families.
Our goals reflect a full continuum of
care.
They include expanding access to
medication for opioid use disorder,
improving early identification through
universal screening,
integrating harm reduction services,
strengthening transitions of care,
preventing youth opioid use,
expanding naloxone access,
and ensuring transparency through robust
data reporting.
These goals keep our investments aligned
with long-term health outcomes, rather
than short-term fixes.
Across these slides, you'll see the
priority settings and populations we
focused on.
We target emergency departments, the
community, primary care, residential
treatment, first responders, child
welfare, and schools.
Populations include those who overdose,
youth at risk, people in withdrawal,
justice-involved residents, pregnant and
postpartum women and families, rural
communities, older adults, and people
living with substance use disorders.
Council approved a 2-year funding cycle,
representing 30% of the total
anticipated distribution, about $2.9
million. Of this,
327,000
would go toward data collection,
reporting, and evaluation.
60%, or 1.6 million would support
treatment.
40% or 1 million would support
prevention.
Leaving the city $864,000
in remaining balance plus future annual
distributions.
Combined city and county investments
total $7.3 million dollars
with the city contributing 2.9 million
and Doña Ana County investigate
investing 4.3 million
uh toward aligned strategies in this
initial funding cycle.
This joint strategy avoids duplication,
maximizes regional impact, and ensures
services complement rather than compete
with each other.
This table shows how funds are
distributed across prevention and
treatment.
Council approved 60% expended toward
treatment and recovery and 40% toward
prevention.
Prevention totals approximately $930,000
with investments in LCPD program Las
Cruces Police Department pro
programming Las Cruces Public Schools
social emotional learning programs and
the Doña Ana County Resilience Leaders.
Treatment and recovery totals $1.4
million dollars with significant
investments in naloxone distribution,
Ideal Option, and Port Light Health.
Evaluation administrative support bring
the grand total to $2.7 million dollars.
The following slides will expand on
these expenses.
Las Cruces Police Department's initial
prevention investment funded the Keepin'
It Real curriculum at three elementary
schools reaching 263 students.
Four officers have already been trained
and four more will train this July.
More expansion is expected in the coming
years.
The fall 2020 The fall 2026 curriculum
will include a pre and post test to
gauge performance.
This is an excellent example of opioid
settlement funds being used to expand
services and leverage other funds for
continued program
The fire department has purchased 300
Narcan lure-jet syringes that can be
administered IM, sub-q, IO, or
intranasally via an atomizer.
600 boxes of Narcan were purchased.
42 cases of 12 are provided to LCPD.
They are going through roughly two cases
per month.
This is significant because LCPD is
often the first on scene at overdose
calls.
The LCFD light program was given eight
cases.
The light inventory is used for Narcan
leave behind and replenish an officer's
reserve after administration in the
field.
This work ensures life-saving medication
is always available for first responders
and for families who may face an
overdose emergency.
Las Cruces Public Schools received
$356,000
to expand social emotional learning.
This funded Second Step curriculum for
more than 6,000 learners and over 2,000
completed lessons showing an increase in
attendance.
Navigate, I think I think it's Navigate
360, included over 10,000 behavior
intervention lessons,
nearly 24,000 intervention lessons,
and 219 mental health lessons, which are
all key tools in youth prevention.
These investments support long-term
prevention by building resilience and
protective factors in youth.
I noticed a funding opportunity was
published in the fall of 2025.
The city received proposals from 15
different agencies providing treatment,
recovery, and prevention programs.
To ensure fair and competitive funding,
proposals were scored using a 100-point
rubric with two city staff, two county
staff, and one OSAC member evaluating
the proposals covering program design,
organizational capacity, outcomes,
budget and cost-effectiveness, and
formatting.
Three service providers have been
awarded funding effective July 1st,
2026.
Doña Ana County Resilience Leaders,
$399,904
for a trauma-informed family support
center.
Ideal Option, $1.1 million for
deflection and intensive case
management.
And Presbyterian Health, $245,915
for on-demand medication-assisted
treatment.
Pivot Evaluation has been contracted by
the city and county for joint
evaluation.
In the spirit of ongoing collaboration
and open communication as a cornerstone
of this work, maintaining this
connection will strengthen our efforts
to maximize the impact of opioid
settlement funds for the community.
Evaluation occurs in two phases.
Year one focuses on process. Did the
program do what it committed to do?
Year two assesses outcomes, including
intended and any additional impacts.
Okay, our next steps include hiring a
full-time grant development and
compliance specialist.
Uh ongoing reporting with the city of
Las Cruces transparency and
accountability website that will provide
live updates of expenditures in an
easy-to-consume format.
The EERP model for detailed transactions
was approved June 15th, 2026,
and is being moved into production.
This work in progress has been effect
through revenue reporting and will be a
great be a great asset to governmental
reporting.
The relationship between the city and
county will further enhance the
relationship with the community by
partnering with a third-party Pivot
Evaluation.
And finally, the city and county are
continuing the conversation with
assistance from the opioid settlement
advisory council, local stakeholders,
and community members to best prepare
for the next round of expenditures to
present to council.
The end.
Um and that I'll take questions.
All right, thank you, Wes.
See if anyone has questions. Counselor
Harris?
Um thanks, Mayor, and thanks, Wes. This
was great to learn in-depth about all
this stuff. Um
my quick question is uh
the previous slide with the grant
development person,
um
is that somebody who's like
only going to be focusing on compliance
for this project or since it's a grant
development, are we also looking at
related grants and funding to
supplement the program? Um
Good afternoon, Mayor, city councilors.
Uh Counselor Harris, uh yes, the grant
development specialist will be embedded
within the grants
uh program in finance, and that person
will be not just working on this
particular project, but uh looking for
complementary funding to continue and
increase the services provided not only
through the grant but also through the
city.
Okay. Um yeah, thanks.
Any other questions?
Mayor Pro Tem.
Thank you, Mayor. Mayor, city
councilors, Wes, thank you for putting
this information together. Uh I believe
it was page
or slide 28. Um
I'm glad that you put this in here. I I
think when
uh given the the amount of of funds
available and the good they could do for
our community, it's important to to
measure. Um
so, I appreciate the
the
your
you and your team providing
um
results and outcomes. So um
is it are you going to just do it in
year one year two or will there be I
guess six month or a intermediate you
know what
some sort of a update or read out in
between those those
milestone dates?
I I think the contract with peer
evaluation evaluation was every six
months they would have a formal report.
Mhm.
Um but we will be so we intend to have
like monthly data coming in from the
providers.
Um and then like the different contracts
like with Las Cruces public schools like
that's more like a quarterly update. Um
but information from LCPD the fire
department these are like daily
conversations. Um but um
yeah and then the I really wanted to
direct our attention to the website
where well this is where we want to
publish those uh that data but we also
want to have live account of um
expenditures as they come in. This is
awesome.
Sorry sorry I'm really I'm really
excited about the the Las Cruces website
uh accountability website.
Mhm.
Um I probably should have put on this
presentation but um it'll be a great
opportunity to have like live updates
um as they come in. Um and like where
and where they're going um where like
treatment recovery prevention
programming is is
Wonderful wonderful. Thanks uh
for providing that uh and thank you
thank you mayor. Looking forward to the
results.
Me too.
Councilor Corey.
Thank you again. I this may not be
something that you can answer but I have
a vague recollection that one of the
many companies that
had to pay into the opioid overarching
opioid settlement funds
basically said they would pay in Narcan.
Did this Do any Does anyone else
remember this conversation? No, maybe
maybe I'm making it up. I swear that
happened in in one of our discussions.
One of those companies was going to
because they didn't have enough cash or
something, but they had piles of Narcan.
They were just going to give
like municipalities piles of Narcan. But
if you're making that face and everyone
else is making that face, I doubt I
doubt my memory. I swear that someone
that was one of the the companies'
resolutions instead of money. But I
guess we're not getting that. If you're
making that face, then never mind. But I
was just going to say if we do, I hope
that the way that we're distributing it
now can be the model so that it can go
really quickly and it doesn't have to
have any discussion about how that
happens. If we just get a box of Narcan
showing up
at at Brad Douglas's office, I guess is
where it would
would appear probably. So, anyway, um
thank you. Sorry.
I'll get it out there.
Yeah.
Councilor Bacon.
Thank you so much Wes, and I see some
members of the advisory council here.
Thank you all of you for your work so
far. I am so sorry. I don't know if I
missed this, Wes. Did you show us the
amount that has gone out and the amount
of dollars that are still
unused?
I don't think you did, right?
So, this is just a report on the the
2-year funding cycle of the 2.9 million
that we approved in like 9 months ago.
Okay.
Um
But so that the most
I think Yeah, this is the best I've got.
2.9 million with 864,000
remaining. And then the any annual any
annual distributions that may be coming
out. And if there's any additional
settlements that um may be pending.
Yes, thank you. I appreciate that. And
then I did You know, I did want to raise
um I didn't want to leave this hanging
because I think it's important to keep a
very good line of communication open.
Um we were we did receive a letter from
the Opioid Settlement Advisory Council
um naming from May naming some concerns.
I wondered if you could touch on that or
if members of the committee wanted to
touch on that and you know, as we think
about next steps really like I want us
to be
in lockstep with each other because
obviously this these dollars are
monumentally important. Um obviously the
map you showed us the stakes are really
high. And this amount of money is not
going to
it's still not enough for the damage
that they've caused our communities,
right? But I
but this opportunity is incredible and I
think I want us to be able to
be
on the same page and aligned with each
other. So
does anybody do you want to speak on
this letter or
Let me pull it so I can make sure I can
speak to it.
Or members of the
committee as well West if
you know, I it did seem like they came
from the whole council. Maybe not.
You don't see Ned Rubin
I
maybe the best.
Okay.
Um
Everything up?
Um
Clear the table.
Yep.
Um hi, my name's Athena Huckaby. Um I am
the special project manager with Doña
Ana County. Um I'm uh
in charge of our opioid settlement
funds.
No members of the Ultanika Gonzalez is
here who is a member of the OSAC, but
she was not involved in the writing of
the letter. Specifically, I think and
Wes has a copy of the letter here, but
specifically I think it was mostly about
the
city and county continuing to work
together and have good communication and
reminding city of the purpose of the
OSAC, which is to advise city and county
about best practices and you know how
our
their recommendations for how they
believe those funding should be used. So
there had been a little bit of a gap in
communication because of staff
changeover here at the city and I think
we're back things are moving very well.
So
I don't think that's anything
particularly of concern. One member of
the OSAC did have specific concerns
about the Keeping It Real program and
that that was not a recommended
funding
uh
expenditure through the OSAC.
However, you know, um
that's entirely up to the city how you
choose to spend your funds.
Okay, thank you. Well, I just I didn't
want this to go
unacknowledged. So
I know folks are putting in volunteer
time on this committee. So I wanted to
make sure to lift that up and and if
there's concerns that I hope they
continue to be raised. So thank you very
much.
Do you think that covered
Sure.
Great.
Right. So there were some things that
the city recommended outside of what
OSAC recommended, which was like funding
in schools. That would that would
include the social emotional learning
programs. Um
the Navigate 360 and the other
curriculum. Um and the
Keep It Real program.
Um
Those were um
programs that the city recommended.
Outside of the out of the setting when
we're talking about the settings of
populations, that was outside of the
OSAC recommendations.
Councilor Harris. Um, thanks. I guess as
a follow-up to that,
can you speak a little bit to why those
programs are being done in elementary
schools and if there are thoughts about
extending it, um,
you know, as a former graduate of
D.A.R.E., which was a long time ago, uh,
to be fair, um, you know, I wonder if
like
those programs would be
more appropriate in in middle school or
high school or, uh, or all three, you
know, so
curious to hear your thoughts.
Thank you. Sergeant says that, uh,
that's for me to answer.
[laughter]
So, the, uh, the
the Keep It Real, um, curriculum, which
is owned by D.A.R.E. LLC, um, is a, um,
evidence-based program sponsored by
SAMHSA,
um,
and, um, it's targeted at that grade
level and teaches them,
uh,
like, um,
healthy decision-making habits,
um, appropriate for that grade level.
Um, and I can't recall and I don't have
a representative from the Los Cruces
Public Schools to expand on the
social emotional learning learning
programs,
um, but it's it's a similar, um,
approach for, um, prevention.
Chief Daniels.
Um, Mayor, Councilor Harris, just to
add, the, uh, Keeping It Real program is
actually designed through the entire
spectrum of school. So, they have
different recommendations. I think this
was our first year getting started with
the Keeping It Real program. And so we
didn't a lot of it's just the ability or
the scope of what we can accomplish with
only few officers being trained in that
first year. So I'm I'm assuming as
capacity increases, uh we'll all
obviously take a look at what services
can be provided through that program
across that entire age spectrum.
Thank you, Chief.
Well, seeing no other questions, thank
you, Wes. We appreciate it all the work
you put in and
the update. Thank you.
Thank you for your time.
Okay, with that I'll look for a motion
to adjourn.
Move to adjourn.
Second.
This is on the motion to adjourn the
work session. Counselor McClear is
absent. Counselor Mathes?
Yes.
Counselor Harris?
Yes.
Counselor Ben Como?
Yes.
Counselor Curran?
Yes.
Counselor Munoz?
Yes.
And mayor?
Yes.
Mhm.