Alaska Regional Hospital will acquire the Alaska Medicare Clinic on Nov. 1, 2014. The clinic will be known as the “Alaska Regional Senior Health Clinic.” Located in South Anchorage, it is a primary care physician office providing outpatient medical care to Medicare beneficiaries. It opened in 2011 and has received substantial support from the State of Alaska for the past three years.
Julie Taylor, CEO of Alaska Regional Hospital, says that acquiring the clinic is a way for the hospital to assist a population that’s already embedded in the healthcare system.
“This is an opportunity for us to support our community by increasing seniors’ access to comprehensive, patient-centered care, and to help them to maintain the highest level of health and wellness,” Taylor said in a press statement. “Additionally, this enables us to do our part in addressing the escalating costs of health care as the State of Alaska works to manage its health care budget.”
The clinic was started by a local group of medical organizations, headed up by Dr. George Rhyneer Sr., one of the state’s first cardiologists, in response to the need for access to primary care for Medicare-eligible Alaskans.
“The board of the clinic and I are very happy to have found an organization that is committed to caring for one of our community’s more vulnerable populations,” Rhyneer said. “We look forward to Alaska Regional’s support of the clinic so it may continue to function and provide services into the future.”
The clinic provides wellness visits, acute care and coordination of specialty treatment recommendations. It is currently staffed by two board certified physicians, a behavioral health nurse practitioner, a family practice nurse practitioner and an executive director.
The current staff will continue to deliver patient care at the Alaska Regional Senior Health Clinic, and patients will continue to have a choice when selecting a hospital for inpatient or outpatient needs. The clinic currently accepts new patients, but the waiting list is six to eight weeks long. Alaska Regional is in the process of recruiting a board-certified internist who specializes in geriatric patients.
