Scott alluded SageWest’s hospitals in Fremont County. Those facilities are owned by a for-profit, out-of-state system, and Riverton residents have criticized the running of the hospital there, suggesting it’s been hollowed out to support its sister facility in Lander. 

Bell said the deal included commitments from Banner to keep WMC full of the services it currently provides; WMC CEO Michele Chulick told the Star-Tribune last month that there were no plans to eliminate any services.

“It’s a fair, good deal, really for everybody,” said Bell, who’s a Texas-based attorney who worked for the county on the deal. He said it was riskier not to take the deal and assume that WMC — an independent hospital in a rural area, an endangered species nationwide though not necessarily in Wyoming — would be OK into the future.

The board took pains — via questions aimed at Bell and Nelson — to indicate that it had looked at a wide range of options, like with other systems, and wasn’t rushing the process. 

Before voting, the commissioners expressed support for the deal (the county’s separate hospital board also voted Thursday to support the deal). County commissioner Paul Bertoglio listed other community hospitals he was familiar with that now “sit empty.” He said “that could happen” to WMC if it were kept independent.  Fellow commissioner John Milne agreed, pitching the decision as a forward-looking way to ensure the hospital’s continued existence in Casper.