Coyote TV - High Desert Advocate

    Wendover’s luxurious three doctor roster at the local clinic is will be no more following the West Wendover city council’s okay not to renew the contract of Dr. Ian Hassan and to not fill a Physician’s Assistant position for at least three months, said Clinic Manager Kris Anderson Wednesday.
    The  cost cutting proposal to cut the number of doctors from three to two was originally tabled by the council for further study in the second November meeting last month.
    The clinic is owned and managed by Nevada Health Centers and heavily subsidized by the city. It recently hired a second full time doctor filling a vacancy of over two years. The new hire gave the clinic two full time and one part time doctors, according to NRHC Chief Dr. Carl Hurd the clinic barely has enough business to justify two physicians and the prospects of increasing business was not good.
    In fact according to Hurd, fewer and fewer people were going to the facility in the past year and fewer were paying. According to Hurd the reason for the decline was the national recession and its impact on Wendover.
    “Fewer people have insurance fewer people are paying,” Hurd told the council.
    But while attentive the council did not immediately follow the doctors request and instead put the issue off to at least the next meeting.
    Apart from the national recession another reason for the clinic drop off in business was the dramatic slashing of advertising its services. Up to a year ago the clinic had a small but very effective advertising campaign, now it is limited to in house produced flyers put up on the local supermarket’s bulletin board and what ever free announcements it can get from local media.