News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
St. Charles Health System will open a new primary care clinic to serve patients in Sisters this summer.
St. Charles Family Care is one of two new clinics; the other will be in Bend.
Like the St. Charles Family Care clinics in Redmond and Prineville, the Bend and Sisters clinics will serve all patients regardless of their insurance coverage or ability to pay for services.
To staff these clinics,
St. Charles has hired four primary care physicians. Dr. Joseph Bachtold, a family practice physician who has worked in Central Oregon for 10 years in John Day and in Sisters, and Dr. Steven Greer, a fellow Central Oregon veteran and former president of the St. Charles Bend medical staff, will provide services for both new clinics.
The clinic will be located next to Sisters Inn & Suites in the former Southeby's Realty space, according to Dr. Bachtold.
"We are excited to announce this next important step in our development of an integrated health care delivery system," said Jim Diegel, president and CEO of St. Charles Health System. "By focusing on primary care in all communities that we serve and providing a medical home for patients, we are laying the groundwork for a system that will provide better care and promote better health at lower costs."
Greer has spent the past four years in Alaska working on a collaborative project with Indian Health Services and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement to develop a medical home that incorporates behavioral health, pharmacy, nurse case managers and others to provide comprehensive care. The clinic successfully improved continuity of care.
"This kind of concept of bringing the patients in and giving them a more comprehensive experience in their medical home, can hopefully improve their overall health and keep them healthy," Greer said. "It's not a panacea, but hopefully it's one step toward lowering costs and improving care."
The focus in the clinics reflects a national trend toward early intervention and wellness with the goal of improving health and thus reducing the costs associated with expensive emergency room or urgent care visits and hospital stays.
"The way things seem to be headed is where they should have been all along: Keeping people well and keeping them out of the hospital," Dr. Greer told The Nugget.
The doctor said for that mission to succeed, patients need to receive services when they are needed; the goal is to move toward same-day access. Doctors will take enough time with their patients to address their overall health, not just a particular ailment or malady.
"This is kind of the way I've practiced medicine all along," Dr. Greer said.
"It's more of an integrated approach," said Dr. Bachtold, "where primary care is the foundation of the health care system."
He said that countries where the large majority of physicians practice in primary care and family medicine have better indices of wellness.
Greer noted that the expenses and economic distortions associated with a fee-for-service compensation structure are forcing changes in the way medical care is delivered and paid for.
"Basically we need to reward wellness, and the system is evolving toward that," he said.
Dr. Bachtold said he is excited to be part of a change.
"I've been frustrated with the way health care is paid for and delivered, and it's just getting worse and worse," he said. "So I decided it's time to put my effort where my mouth is and I'm really looking forward to it."
On a personal level, Dr. Greer is excited about returning to Sisters to apply some of the successful models he's worked with in Alaska.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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