Health District town hall: Proposing organizations named, community questions answered

— by Susan McBain, Orcas Issues reporter —

More than 70 people attended, via Zoom, the first of three Town Halls held by the Orcas Island Health Care District on its plans to support a single medical clinic on the island. The June 30 session provided a surprise, but not a great many questions from those attending; it lasted just over one hour.

Two providers submitted proposals in response to the District’s Request for Proposals (RFP), Island Hospital, of Anacortes, and the Orcas Community Integrative Medicine Clinic, headed by Dr. Vincent Shu. The surprise: Orcas Family Health Center, Dr. David Shinstrom’s practice, did not submit a proposal but instead provided a letter of support for Island Hospital’s proposal. That proposal would create, in partnership with the hospital, a provider-based Rural Health Clinic (RHC), a federal designation that
provides substantially increased Medicare reimbursements.

The Town Hall began with a short PowerPoint presentation giving some background for the District’s decisions. It covered the financial and operational challenges of the current two-clinic model, the District’s extensive efforts in gathering information on alternative models, and aspects of the RFP and responses. The District’s July 7 regular meeting and July 9 Town Hall will focus on the two proposals themselves, which will be soon be posted on the District’s website at orcashealth.org.

The majority of the session was devoted to community questions and answers. Several questions related to a recent petition circulated by Brianna Rose asking that the District continue its contract with UW Medicine (UWM). The commissioners responded that in several talks with UWM in recent months, UWM stated it was willing to continue to operate the clinic as it is now, but it could not respond to the particulars of the RFP in a timely manner “or perhaps ever.” Also, UWM requires a guaranteed source of funding for its subsidy, which the commissioners felt they could not give.

The source of signatures on the petition was also discussed. More than 880 people signed it, but how many were actually Orcas residents, even part time, was not clear. The commissioners noted that the departure of UWM would not necessarily mean the loss of current providers, as they will make every effort to retain those providers. Referrals to UWM specialists will not disappear either, as providers at a new clinic will be able to make the same referrals, and others as well.