— from Ken Speck —
Last week it was announced that Island Hospital would no longer be providing management services for the Orcas Medical Center practice and Orcas Medical Foundation (OMF). It was also reported that OMF is having discussions with the UW Neighborhood Clinics to take over management of the Orcas Medical Center practice. I propose an easy and local alternative for OMF.
Orcas Family Health Center is a fully operational family medicine practice with providers, an excellent staff, scheduling and billing services. I have spoken with Dr David Shinstrom, medical director of OFHC, who is very willing to move the practice to the medical center building. I urge you to contact the OMF Board who are listed at www.orcasmedicalcenter.com/omf-board and encourage them to pursue this extremely easy local solution to medical practice on Orcas Island.
Suggesting equivalency between Orcas Family Health Center and UW Neighborhood Clinics is spurious at best…
There are many considerations that must go into finding the right replacement for Island Hospital, and choosing short term expediency over longer term sustainability is not the best decision…
I wish the board good fortune in their dialogue with UW Neighborhood Clinics…they would be an outstanding partner for the Orcas community.
Ken,
How does consolidating Orcas Family Medical Center into OMC help solve the problem of losing the partnership with Island Hospital?
The issue is not “losing” or replacing Island Hospital. The issue is also not trying to compare local providers with a UW clinic model.
Island Hospital was simply a contract entity, like any other (potentially add UW Neighborhood Clinic to that long list) that was filling space within a building.
It would seem that the functional issue is that under the current arrangement of medical providers on the island, there is not a sustainable model in place that will assure and provide consistent services for the long term. The Medical center has been a great facility, but a revolving door of providers as long as I have been on the island. The only consistent part has been inconsistency!
I believe I echo some of Ken’s feelings when I say: Perhaps the question should not be aimed at what new organization should we bring in this year – and instead be aimed at how can we best utilize a community resource to improve and stabilize health-care services and options on Orcas Island. To do that, we may indeed need to bring all the current stakeholders to the table for an honest, forward thinking conversation.
Please be aware that there is no such thing as “easy” or simple in a transaction that involves the federal payment programs, Medicare and Medicaid, as well as state licensing, as the recent controversy on San Juan Island demonstrates. If my back-of-the-envelope calculations are correct, there are sufficient physicians on island to meet the needs of the island population (using a federal rule-of-thumb), even without taking into the account the fact that many residents get their medical services on the mainland. What is needed seems to be some coordination.
Justin states the most vexing issue regarding medical care on the Island. The “revolving door of providers” and the “consistent inconsistency”. The ONLY thing that should matter to us all is that we, collectively, have the best medical service possible from the medical professionals that practice here.
WHY, with such a wonderful facility, do we have two of our local physicians working in separate places? I am told that certain individuals have problems working together. Oh, great!! Get over it ! Sit down over lunch and work through your differences.
Interestingly, as the door keeps “revolving” on this issue, I have found that if I have a serious medical issue, I call OIFR. We have great paramedics and capable EMTs. They are backed up by mainland doctors and hospitals like St. Joe’s, or Island Hospital. I go to the Orcas Medical Center for an annual check-up or a flu shot.
This should not be acceptable to anyone. We need to pull the elements of our medical needs together and craft a comprehensive service solution. I would ask retired physicians or specialists like John Mazzarella and Greg Ayers to help lead the way to a workable solution that benefits us all, including our local professional physicians.
Consider the possibilities of everyone working together that would result in 24/7 medical coverage that would not consume the lives of our local providers.
Lief, You had me at “Bring back Dr. Camille!”
I followed her down to Swedish and the care is excellent. I especially like the MyChart feature where she and her staff and I can communicate easily without need to go to the clinic. A much higher level and quality of interactivity and responsiveness.
I hope the board and OMC management will bring her back. She and her family are wonderful members of our community.