For the second time in less than a year, a member of the Eureka Springs Hospital Commission has been removed by the city council.
At its regular meeting held Monday, Jan. 13, the council voted 5-1 to remove hospital commission chair Sandy Martin after lengthy remarks by council member Rachael Moyer aimed at the hospital’s finances and what Moyer described as the commission’s lack of oversight.
“I move — I’ve given this a lot of thought, and I move that the chair be removed from the hospital commission for ineffective financial oversight, and a vote of no confidence,” Moyer said. “I encourage other council members to the same so that we can allow the CEO and the CFO an opportunity to rebuild and to save our hospital.
“I’m moving that the chair be removed.”
Council member Harry Meyer seconded the motion, but Terry McClung wanted clarification before the vote.
“Are you removing her from the commission in total or just out of the chairmanship?” McClung asked.
Moyer responded: “We’re removing her from the commission.”
Meyer voted in favor of Martin’s removal, saying that he did so “regretfully.” McClung, Moyer, David Avanzino and Susane Gruning also voted to remove Martin.
Council member Steve Holifield cast the lone no vote.
The council voted Jan. 27, 2025, to remove Kent Turner from the commission. Turner had previously served as the commission chair before being succeeded in that role by Martin.
Martin responded to her removal in an email to the Times-Echo on Wednesday, Jan. 14.
“I am very proud of what the dedicated commission and the new CEO have accomplished in a very short period,” Martin said, in part. “I stand by all the decisions we (and I) have made from mid-2024 to present. The hospital is on mission to provide quality healthcare and grow services … with a clear focus on people and not politics.”
The motion to remove Martin came after Moyer brought up various points about the recently submitted 2026 hospital budget.
Early in Moyer’s message, Martin was given a chance to respond, but as Moyer continued her comments about the hospital’s finances and other concerns, Martin wasn’t given a chance to respond before Moyer’s motion for removal.
“What was used as the basis for the development of the budget?” Moyer asked to start her remarks.
“Primarily it was based on existing ER training and the development of new revenue sources, expansion of infusion services, hopefully some additional outpatient services,” Martin replied.
Moyer then asked what documents were used as the basis in compiling the budget.
“Was it like the 2024 audit?,” she asked. “Was it the 2025 financial reports?”
Martin replied: “You mean what was the basis for the figure? Yeah, it was a combination looking at where we were in 2025, and then [hospital CEO] Tiffany [Means] projected out what the additional revenue would be with new services.”
Moyer went on to say that she felt throughout 2025 the hospital revenue “has been either misrepresented or negligently reported.”
“And it’s leaving us a bit blind when it comes to making some sound financial judgments,” she said. “I think, obviously, some more things have come to light regarding the backroom financial reporting, but it’s now my concern that these reporting mistakes that we have consistently pointed out since April 2025 have been carried over into the 2026 budget.”
Moyer used three examples to back up her assertions.
“… The first one is I have a concern that there’s an overestimation of revenue,” she said. “I’ve been saying this all along, but the adopted 2026 budget projects $10.8 million in patient revenues. If you compare this to the income statements that council received, the patient revenues in 2025 were $8.1 million. That’s a difference of $2.7 million. That’s a 33 percent increase in patient revenue. That’s very concerning. I think that that is overestimated.”
Bad debt was Moyer’s next point, with the council member saying no bad debt was recorded in 2025, but there is $250,000 in projected bad debt in the 2026 budget.
“Therefore, the adopted 2026 budget projects an $8.8 million revenue,” she said. “Now, if we look back to 2024, we see that the audit … the 2024 audit adjusted net revenues to $5.6 million. … The audit adjusted bad debt. This is the same audit that was reported as holding only good news, and reported the bad debt to be adjusted to afford an additional $765,000. What that means is that’s an additional $765,000 that gets subtracted from patient revenue. That was never acknowledged, really.”
Moyer went on to address the subject of contractual adjustments, saying they are underestimated in the 2026 budget.
“My third area of concern is a failure to adequately project contractual adjustments on patient revenue,” she said. “This is where you bill for the service and then you have to contractually adjust for that amount. If the percentage of contractual on patient revenue in ’26 is consistent with what it was in ’25, you’re going to probably look at like 68 percent of patient revenue. That should be about $1 million subtracted from patient revenue and adjustments.
“I don’t have to explain that overestimated revenue and underestimated adjustments could leave the hospital in a very undesirable financial situation,” Moyer said. “Whatever spin follows these comments, remember that the hospital, in 2025, started with a bank balance of $7.3 million and in 11 months ended with $4.6 million. The commission adopted a 2026 budget that continues this trend.
“We’ve been saying this all along, but if things don’t change, the point at which the hospital bank balance reaches $3 million, I think this body has to think about seriously what we’re going to do, because it’s like the point of no return.”
That led Moyer to address Martin specifically, criticizing the commission’s oversight of the hospital’s finances.
“In December, I began receiving an alarming number of communications regarding the CFO and billing practices, and I requested a meeting with the mayor and the CEO to share the details of these concerns in confidence,” she said. “I requested the meeting without you, Sandy, and the request was denied. What’s clear to me now, and will soon be, if not already, it’s already public knowledge, is that the lack of coordinated financial stewardship for our hospital is hurting our community from inconsistent and inaccurate billing of patients to the nonpayment of vendors and contractors. I repeat, the hospital commission, which is the entity responsible for oversight under the leadership of its chair has continued to overlook financial discrepancies at all costs.
“Evidence suggests that the chair unilaterally acts on behalf of the commission, which is also a matter of record, and I believe that if our hospital has any chance of improving, new leadership is needed.”
The hospital recently terminated its former CFO, Cynthia Asbury. On Monday, Jan. 12, the Times-Echo reported that the hospital owed Oracle Americas Inc. more than $226,000 for unpaid invoices dating back to July. Martin told the Times-Echo that Means learned of the past-due invoices on Dec. 1.
PUBLIC COMMENTS
During the portion of the meeting designated for public comments, former hospital employees Richard and Samantha Webb discussed what they described as mistreatment of employees by hospital leadership, saying the council has done nothing to address the situation and calling for a change in leadership.
Heather Wilson, a member of the city advertising and promotion commission, also spoke during public comments. Wilson said she had requested Martin’s resignation from the commission.
Wilson also called for Mayor Butch Berry to step down when his term is over at the end of the year.
“I have already asked the hospital commission chair to step down from her role in light of her multiple failures,” Wilson said. “The current leadership pattern presents a clear risk to the long-term health of this city and hospital.
“Mayor Berry, I respectfully, but directly, ask that this year you please resign so that you can make way for new leadership. Leadership that is committed to transparency and neutral application of standards and that can move Eureka Springs forward into the future while honoring our legacy and our past.
“When long-standing personal relationships take precedence over holding appointed leaders accountable for multiple documented failures, public confidence erodes, and governance suffers. …”
