— from Anne Presson, Superintendent, Orcas Island Health Care District —
OIHCD was established to ensure the Orcas Island community has access to quality, affordable, primary and urgent health care, as well as access to a physician after-hours when deemed medically appropriate. We (elected Commissioners) have spent much of our time since the District was formed working to understand the existing health care model and discerning how
well this model delivers in these areas. We have also worked to comprehend the complex health care reimbursement system and the constraints of delivering care on a rural, remote island.
To date, OIHCD has partnered with the two existing practices, UW Medicine Orcas Clinic who has experience operating primary care clinics, and Orcas Family Health Center with experience operating a rural health care clinic. We worked collaboratively with each practice to ensure that they have the financial resources to meet the needs of the patients they serve. The subsidy provided by OIHCD was effective in stabilizing both practices.
However, the magnitude of increase in the fiscal year 2020 budgets submitted by both practices generated subsidy levels that were unexpected and substantial. As a result, we are compelled to recognize that it is time to acknowledge and concede that the current model of supporting two separate practices is not financially sustainable. Beyond the cost constraints, the current structure doesn’t deliver the full scope of services we deem essential for the ideal island model.
As we look to the future, OIHCD seeks to support a model of care that is appropriate for our population and financially sustainable. We recognize the services people choose to seek on island varies, and we will strive to meet the needs of the entire community. We are convinced that a single clinic model, working collaboratively with other health care stakeholders, is the best approach to meet the community’s needs.
To demonstrate our commitment to a single clinic model, the OIHCD is planning to move to a consolidated funding approach in 2021. Over the next few months, we will continue exploring the options available and work closely with the leadership in the existing practices to help inform and encourage a new model of health care on Orcas. We value the providers and staff in both practices and go about this work with a sensitivity to the complexities and personnel involved.
Throughout this process we also remain committed to hearing from the community and keeping the community informed. We appreciate the confidence and continued support of the community and believe by working together we will be successful in creating the right health care model for Orcas Island.
There are three islanders ( me along with two other people ) attending regularly the OIHCD Board meeting twice a month. At times, there may be 2-3 more people with a total of 5-6 islanders at most. I don’t know how many people who did not attend the Board meeting read the minutes to get a glimpse of what the direction of the ideal healthcare model.
After numerous hours spent at the District’s Board meeting and the special meeting with the OIHC hired consultants, at present, we have been having enormous amounts of information for the Commissioners to make a decision specific to the direction of the healthcare model which would benefit most to the community.
We DON’T need a PHD degree to contribute this dialogue. All we need is COMMON SENSES.
It is our community as many islanders who have been paying the tax to support our healthcare system. I encourage that our islanders post their opinions to ensure their voices to be heard amid the process of seeking the ideal healthcare model which will AFFECT each and all of you.
Thank you, Anne Presson and OIHCD Commissioners, for all of your hard work!
What trigger the District seeking other viable healthcare model stems from being “ Financially Unsustainable”
UWNC is requesting for a subsidy of $802,787 that is NOT included after-hours call coverage because after hour care is not what UWNC normally does in the Seattle Clinics.
After further negotiation, in UWNC’s proposal, after-hours call coverage would be divided among six providers. To prevent provider burnout, only half the coverage would be by providers employed in the clinic; temporary providers brought to cover, for example, a weekend would provide the other half. The cost of the proposal, including provider compensation, travel by the temporary providers, and overhead, totaled about $250,000 per year.
Therefore, UW requests $1,052,787 for subsidy if after-hour call is included. Is it reasonable? For the sake of a fair APPLE to APPLE comparison, I would introduce then Island Hospital owned Orcas Clinic that had a similar industrial structure to UWNC.
According to XXX, a then Orcas Medical Foundation Board member, Island Hospital owned Orcas Clinic was in need of $125,000-$175,000 to keep its clinic door open. Given that the same Orcas clinic with same patient population and same insurance payers but run by two different large corporations, what is the reason for why UW is requesting about 7 times more than what then Island Hospital owned Orcas Clinic was asking?
Just think about this for a moment. This is a critical question to ask. Could anyone kindly share your thoughts to dive deeply specific to this Q & A before I share my own cents? Many thanks!
Though I second Dr.Shu’s appeal for participation, we as a public health district following the discussions of the commission, seem to be in a fallow moment as we await the results of many inquiries gathering responses of potential partners. Until then ..
..thanks to our Commission/Anne and those delegated the data collection.
I was once on an Orcas board where all members had agreed to do some homework, to research an aspect of a major decision we were tasked with. At the next meeting, amidst extreme passionate displays and loud opinionating about our options, we found that actually NO ONE had done the agreed-upon preparation and we were shouting about literally nothing. .. as if in the fire of fact-free disputation we could distill reason from pure passion.
It was as though we had instead taken as our assignment the task of creating a model of utter dysfunction. And were abundantly successful.
We voted to meet again, later .. DO OVER .. but with the actual ~relevant~ data ..
For those who are driving at the roundabout, if they are keeping on driving a loop at ROUNDABOUT without exiting, it won’t take so long that they ( driver and passengers) will feel DIZZY.
Where should we submit comments – to the OIHCD board itself?
The numbers Vincent Shu presents comparing costs for having Island Hospital and UW are vastly disparate; I still don’t understand why this is. Island Hospital seemed more the natural choice, based on proximity alone – and looking at costs.
I’m not sure why Island Hospital is not who we’re dealing with anymore, and why we chose a much more expensive path that is only going to put us more and more in debt, so if someone would please explain this all to me so I can understand it, or point me to something that would help me understand, I would be grateful, and better educated to make comment on the present situation.
Is OIHCD Owned Healthcare Clinic Workable and Achievable ?
A Call for the Community Advisory Group To OIHCD
We can not tell you how much we appreciated OIHCD’s commissioners’ tireless efforts to re-shaping our Island’s healthcare model in a cost-effective way. This need to look for other viable options is driven by the fact that the present healthcare model is not financially sustainable.
After numerous hours spent at the District’s Board and the special meetings with the OIHCD hired consultants, it is clear that, we now have enormous amounts of information which while informative is sometimes also confusing perhaps misleading. And as of today (about 22 months since the inception of OIHCD), this complicated issue remains unresolved and undecided similar to driving on a roundabout without exiting.
Due to the aforementioned issues, a call for the Community Advisory Group reflecting a voice of community is needed.
This public forum meeting is meant to pick and spur the intelligent Islanders’ brains to come forth with creative ideas and alternative models for OIHCD’s consideration. They need not be extremely complicated but can be COMMON SENSE idea that we all have intuitively.
Our Tax-paying community’s voice deserves to be heard by OIHCD. This voice stemming from the COMMUNITY provides a unique strength reflecting the WILLS of our tax payers which MAY NOT BE the best interests of a large corporate clinic. It is the community’s desire for an ideal healthcare NOT in the interest of a large corporate clinic but of a sustainable value to the community
It is our pleasure to invite each of you for the meeting with this focus : Is OIHCD Owned Healthcare Clinic Workable and Achievable?
To give you background on the issues, please REVIEW the following articles at Orcas Issues:
1. OIHCD’s ongoing work to create a future health care model for Orcas Island Written by OIHCD. Link: https://theorcasonian.com/oihcds-ongoing-work-to-create-a-future-health-care-model-for-orcas-island/ 6 comments
2. Health District facing uncertainties regarding costs, structure by Susan McBain linked
https://theorcasonian.com/health-district-prepares-for-some-uncertainties-moving-forward/ one comment
3. To operate or subsidize a healthcare clinic? By Vincent Shu https://theorcasonian.com/guest-opinion-to-operate-or-subsidize-a-healthcare-clinic/ 20 plus comments
Please join us for one of 6 public forum meetings as follows:
02/27 Thursday 5-7 pm, Library
02/29 Saturday 5-7 pm, Library
03/05 Thursday 5-7 pm, Library
03/07 Saturday 5-7 pm, Library
03/12 Thursday 5-7 pm, Library
03/14 Saturday 5-7 pm, Library
I want to express my sincere gratitude in advance for those who can attend one of those meetings to offer valuable input, thought and support because they’re concerned and actively engaged in their healthcare which we all hope to sustain for many years and generations to come.