Northern Nye County Hospital District extends Frontier Medical Group contract one month, schedules emergency meeting

On March 13, the Northern Nye County Hospital District voted 4-0 to continue the district's contract with Frontier Medical Group on a month-to-month basis and scheduled an emergency meeting for 5 p.m. on March 27 to resolve operational concerns and finalize contract details.

The vote followed an extended discussion during a regularly scheduled meeting about service hours, conflicting messaging to patients, equipment use and billing. Don (chair), who presided over the meeting, told the board the month-to-month option (option 3 on the agenda) would allow time to hold an emergency meeting within the required 30-day notice window.

The vote was accompanied by separate, repeated complaints from trustees and members of the public that Frontier staff had told community members the clinic might close. Heather, a Frontier Medical Group employee, said the clinic “has not worked on a Monday” since the prior meeting and that the practice has been operating four days a week. Don responded that frontline employees should not tell patients the clinic is closing, saying, “please do not you or whoever else is working up there, pass that on to anybody.”

Trustees raised multiple operational issues. Board members and Frontier representatives discussed a continuing mismatch between posted hours, telemedicine availability and in-person provider coverage; patients reported arriving at posted hours and being turned away. Dr. Coker, Frontier’s medical director, said Frontier’s current staffing and billing model limits what the clinic can bill for imaging and labs. “We are not a freestanding imaging center,” Coker said, explaining that the clinic can perform imaging or draw labs only for patients of its providers and that freestanding imaging centers operate under different billing rules.

Trustees pressed the legal and liability implications of allowing other local providers to use the district-owned X-ray equipment. Don and multiple trustees said the board would consult counsel before authorizing outside providers to use imaging equipment and to ensure billing and federal program rules are not violated. Board members also requested that the district attorney or board counsel attend the March 27 meeting.

Board direction and next steps included: setting an emergency meeting for 5 p.m. on March 27, 2025, to review contract deliverables and staffing; asking staff to notify the public about the meeting; and coordinating with the board’s attorney to clarify legal issues related to equipment use and billing.

Votes at a glance: Minutes — The board approved the minutes from the Feb. 20, 2025 meeting (motion by Mr. Keller; second by Ms. Beal; outcome: approved). Contract extension — The board approved continuing Frontier Medical Group’s services on a month-to-month basis and scheduled an emergency meeting for March 27, 2025, 5 p.m. (motion: Mr. Keller; second: Nancy; outcome: approved 4-0). Invoices — The board approved paying listed invoices totaling $40,197.81 (outcome: approved 4-0).

The emergency meeting will be used to decide whether to reauthorize a longer contract or adopt termination steps; trustees said they want the district attorney present to clarify legal and billing constraints before any final decision.

(Reporting note: Quotations and attributions are taken from the board’s March 13 recorded meeting. The board used the agenda item labeled “presentation by Frontier Medical Group regarding deliverables as required by the contract effective on 11/22/2024” as the starting point for discussion.)