Health care services in Ashland area to expand

   ASHLAND, Maine — A collaborative effort that helped secure a $300,000 federal grant will provide for the expansion of health care services offered locally to residents in the Ashland area.    The funding, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will pave the way to establish a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in Ashland. The successful grant request was written by Katahdin Valley Health Center (KVHC) officials who worked cooperatively with leadership at TAMC, the town of Ashland, and the non-profit Aroostook Valley Health Center (AVHC) board of directors.
In the coming months, primary health care services provided to area residents at the Ashland Health Center will transition from TAMC to KVHC, which operates four other FQHCs in Houlton, Island Falls, Millinocket and Patten. In addition to the comprehensive primary health care services currently offered, grant funding will allow for the addition of oral and behavioral health to people in the region of all ages regardless of ability to pay.
“This collaboration between TAMC and KVHC will help to eliminate one of the largest barriers in health care in rural areas, which is access to fundamental health care services that are enjoyed by urban America. KVHC fully intends to continue to provide the current quality health care services being provided at the Ashland clinic, as well as expanding upon those services. Future services will be predicated by a Community Needs Assessment, which will be completed within 12 months,” said Durward Humphrey, chief executive officer of KVHC. “We look forward to a collaborative relationship with not only TAMC, but also the communities that we are driven to serve.”
The Ashland Health Center will be operated as a freestanding clinic integrated within KVHC’s network of care. It will be housed on the upper level of the Virginia S. Pinkham Building (33 Walker St. in Ashland), which is owned by AVHC, and is the location where TAMC currently operates one of its four community health centers. TAMC’s three other satellite health centers are in Caribou, Fort Fairfield and Mars Hill.
TAMC worked closely with KVHC in supporting the grant application. Under the model of care, KVHC will integrate treatment with TAMC, and KVHC’s Ashland providers will have privileges at TAMC’s A.R. Gould Memorial Hospital in Presque Isle.
“Collaborative efforts, such as what TAMC and KVHC are undertaking in Ashland, are critical in the current health care environment and will be even more important moving forward to ensure we provide access to top quality care when and where it is needed. As part of EMHS, TAMC has been working closely with KVHC and other FQHCs throughout the state to expand the accountable care model and care coordination efforts that our health care system has pioneered in Maine,” said Sylvia Getman, TAMC president and CEO, and senior vice president for EMHS. “We look forward to working with KVHC to serve the health care needs of Ashland and the surrounding communities, and look forward to expanding some of TAMC’s specialty services in the region.”
One such service will be offered shortly after the start of the new year at the Ashland Health Center. Renovation work on the ground level of the Ashland Health Center will begin in the coming weeks to allow for TAMC’s Eye Care services to expand into the region. Dr. Mark Morin, an Ashland native and ophthalmologist, will begin to see patients in his hometown on a regular basis at the facility.
The collaborative effort between KVHC and TAMC to expand both primary and specialty care services to residents of Ashland and surrounding towns is welcomed by community officials and members of the AVHC board of directors. The non-profit AVHC corporation is charged with promoting access to, and ensuring the availability of, health care services in the rural and medically underserved communities of Ashland, Garfield Plantation, Masardis, Oxbow Plantation, Nashville Plantation, and Portage, as well as the surrounding areas in western Aroostook County. The corporation owns the Pinkham facility, which houses the Ashland Health Center.
“The Aroostook Valley Health Center board of directors is pleased that this collaborative effort will bring so much more health care services to the Ashland area. We have been so fortunate to receive the outstanding level of care provided by TAMC at our health center for a number of years,” said Janet Jandreau, vice president of the AVHC board. “We are excited with the new collaborative effort between TAMC and KVHC that will expand primary health care services and bring additional specialty care services to our community.”
TAMC and KVHC already collaborate as part of 19 hospitals and primary care practices across Maine participating in the Beacon Health Network, a subsidiary of EMHS. Beacon Health prioritizes listening to the patient and developing individual care plans, forging strong relationships with caregivers, and implementing leading-edge electronic systems that allow two-way communication between patient and provider.
The goal of the care model is to be proactive in identifying problems before more serious complications arise to reduce hospital and emergency room utilization rates to keep costs down while providing treatment at the appropriate level of care.
In Ashland and surrounding communities, the coordinated care model will be especially helpful to the large population of senior citizens, many of whom have chronic health conditions.
“Ensuring continued access to high quality health care services is essential to any rural community, and that is certainly the case here in the Ashland region,” said Ralph Dwyer, Ashland town manager. “As we strive to help our seniors stay healthy and remain here in our community, this new partnership to expand health care services between KVHC and TAMC will be essential moving forward. Similarly, as we realize new and expanding economic development opportunities, access to quality health care services will be critical in our efforts to retain and draw new businesses to our region, in turn bringing new jobs and people to our local communities.”
From its inception in 1974, KVHC’s target population has been the poor, uninsured and underinsured — people who had little, if any, access to health care. In the majority of its service area, KVHC is the only health care organization that serves this population and that maintains a sliding fee scale.
The transition between TAMC and KVHC as the primary health care provider at the Ashland Health Center is expected to be complete before March 1. TAMC staff members at the Ashland Health Center have been offered the opportunity to remain at the facility and become employees of KVHC or to transition to other positions within TAMC.
Funding of KVHC’s $301,458 to establish an FQHC in Ashland was made available under the Affordable Care Act. Nationwide, 236 health center programs will receive approximately $150 million in grant awards to serve more than 1.25 million additional patients.