The recent Mesa County Economic Update revealed a rise in overall unemployment, but the health care industry saw a workforce jump of more than 300 people.
According to the report by Colorado Mesa University Economics Professor Nathan Perry, the disparity is likely due to a continued rise in health care pay and incentives while overall wage inflation starts to slow.
Community Hospital President and Chief Executive Officer Chris Thomas said it’s no coincidence: lingering staff shortages have pressured health care providers to attract and retain employees with higher compensation.
“There are a lot of advantages for us in western Colorado, obviously the community is attractive, which helps us recruit,” Thomas said. “But, we’re trying to be competitive with wages, and we know that work-life balance is important, so we’ve had to stay on top of it …”

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Employees at Intermountain St. Mary’s Regional Hospital cross Seventh Street in this 2022 file photo. The health care industry in Mesa County saw an increase in the number of workers and wages in the most recent economic report.
Between August 2023 and August 2024, the report found that health care wages increased by over $15.5 million, which is more than double the wage growth of any other industry.
Perry noted that health care is the county’s largest industry and employer, with 13,451 staff. Because of that, total wage increases are inherently higher than other sectors.
That said, those millions of dollars mark a 7.5% increase in earnings for health care staff, which Perry said is a “fairly big” change.
COURTING THE WORKFORCE
At an individual level, Community Hospital Chief Human Resources Officer Amy Jordan said that increase has made a substantial difference.
According to her, the average staff salary at Community Hospital in 2022 was approximately $80,000 per year. Two years later, the average staff salary is just under $95,000 annually.
“We’ve had to make big strides there,” Jordan said. “But, we’ve also had to look at what other benefits we can offer, how we can recruit these individuals, get them started right away, get them plugged into the community and then make them stay.”
Those benefits and programs include temporary housing that recruited staff can rent while searching for a home; 20-25% discounted daycare; customizable insurance and benefit plans; and “Baylor shifts,” where staff can earn full-time pay with fewer hours by working less desirable shifts (weekend and overnight).Nationally, Thomas said every hospital is competing for physicians; and specialists — like neurologists, endocrinologists, rheumatologists and oncologists — are even more sparse.
The Department of Veteran’s Affairs Western Colorado Hospital has different financial restraints than independent hospitals.

The Department of Veteran’s Affairs Western Colorado Hospital’s average salary for clinical staff is $125,000, excluding an additional 35% in employee benefits. The health care industry in Mesa County bucked workforce trends in the most recent economic report.
According to a Western Colorado VA representative, the hospital’s average salary for clinical staff is $125,000, excluding an additional 35% in employee benefits.
“For the workers themselves, increased wages not only enhance their financial stability but also acknowledge their essential role in the health care system, especially in the demanding context of recent years,” said VA Western Colorado Health Care System Associate Director Mathew Tekansik. “For patients, higher wages can correlate with better care, as competitive salaries attract and retain skilled professionals, ensuring consistency and quality in patient care.”
Intermountain Health St. Mary’s Regional Hospital was unable to provide similar information or a statement before publication. Family Health West did not provide any data on salary but did issue a statement on their recovery from the pandemic-era turnover:
”Family Health West relies on our culture of being an ‘Employer of Choice,’ and the high quality of talent among our staff is a testament to our efforts,” Family Health West President and CEO Dr. Korrey Klein said.
Despite the inherent competition, Jordan and Thomas said that fighting over the small pool of medical professionals in Mesa County doesn’t help the community. For that reason, many hospitals have turned to out-of-state recruiting firms.
HIGHER WAGES, HIGHER COST?
Because of the substantial efforts to attract employees, Mesa County’s health care industry has mostly recovered from its shortage, surpassing the number of staff before the decrease.
Thomas said the restored, adequate staffing means faster and higher quality care for patients in the area. Perry added that higher staff wages mean more money circulating in the economy and more residents earning a livable income.
Perry said the continuous wage boosts could affect health care costs down the road.
“From my perspective as an economist, there’s no way that doesn’t put upward price pressure on health care,” Perry said. “It depends on the elasticity of demand, which is how willing we are to pay higher prices, but health care is not something we do for fun — it’s something we need. It’s like oil, if oil prices go up, you pay the higher price.”
Thomas, on the other hand, said Community Hospital has — and will continue — to take steps to prevent the payroll trend from raising the cost of services.
Thomas said the rate at which hospitals have increased wages in the past few years is not sustainable to continue indefinitely.

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With the rise in wages for health care workers in Mesa County, CMU Economics Professor Nathan Perry said the continuous wage boosts could affect health care costs down the road. However, Community Hospital CEO Chris Thomas said they have — and will continue — to take steps to prevent the payroll trend from raising the cost of services.
He added that Medicaid and Medicare, which just over half of the hospital’s patients use, do not raise reimbursement rates nearly enough to match the growing cost of providing services.
According to him, other local hospitals also have unique designations that earn them a higher reimbursement rate, supplying extra funds to mitigate wage inflation.
“Our wages have to be comparable, but I’m getting significantly less from Medicare,” Thomas said.
“Health care is expensive, no one wants to pay us more,” he added. “So, we have to figure out how to do it. There’s still room for hospitals to be more efficient and do things better, but yes, it’s a challenge when expenses are growing faster than revenue.”
According to statistics from the Grand Junction Economic Partnership, health care industry accounts for seven of the county’s top 15 employers with Intermountain Health St. Mary’s Regional Hospital ranking second with 2,732 employees and Community Hospital fourth with 1,400 employees.
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