Our philosophy is simply to treat you as we would want our family to be treated. From our receptionsists to our providers and management, we aim to provide the highest level of care we can with a sense of caring and compassion. In trying to achieve this goal, we have attempted to design the clinic and its flow to optimize efficiency and comfort. As you will see, this may mean encountering new ways of doing things that we are all going to have to adjust to. The changes we feel will help improve your access to the providers and our access to knowledge.

Triage--Assessment of Treatment

A triage nurse will be available to answer your immediate care questions as well as help determine how urgently we need to schedule your visit. In general, we will make every attempt to see children who are ill on a same day basis. The triage nurse will also likely be handling questions regarding medications and refills. This will be handled in a concerted effort with your primary care provider. Patient assistance programs and drug sample medication will also be directed through this nurse. We will make every attempt to handle refills the same day they are requested. Request for samples, prescription refills and patient assistance forms will need to be made at least one day in advance.

Primary Providers

Our clinic has multiple providers. If you urgently need to be seen and your primary provider is unable to see you, you may be scheduled to see one of the other providers. Please remember that all of our providers are committed to working together as a team to serve you. We want to make every attempt to keep you with your primary provider, but having this flexibility will help keep us accessible to you.

Rural Health Clinic

We have been designated as a Rural Health Clinic (RHC). This is a program designed to financially support rural medicine by improving reimbursement for Medicare and Medicaid patient encounters. We hope this will not only keep providers in our area but also help attract new ones.

Electronic Medical Records

One of our biggest changes you may see is that instead of a paper chart on our patients, your chart will be stored electronically. Nationally, this is the next stage of clinical informatics and though it may take time for all of us to get used to it, we are excited about it for many reasons. We expect it will allow us to see more patients and spend less time at our desks. It will prompt us through health maintenance issues at each visit. It has multiple security levels that will store your health information more securely and accurately. It will give us access to libraries and providers at OHSU and across the country. It will allow us to track quality control issues and see areas where we can improve care. It will also make being involved in regional and national clinical trials easier.

Education and Studies

You may see new faces from time to time. All our providers are committed to teaching and are involved with multiple organizations to that end. You may be asked to grant permission for a student or resident to participate in your care.  Although we absolutely respect your privacy, we want you to know you are a tool for recruiting and training the next generation of rural health care providers. We also anticipate being involved in clinical studies. One study in childhood immunizations and another on healthy lifestyle and exercise promotion are slated to begin in 2004. We are one of multiple rural clinics joining with OHSU in research regarding rural health care. Again, you may be approached to participate in such a study and regardless of whether or not you choose to participate, we are excited to pioneer with other clinics to look for better ways of providing care despite the multiple obstacles we face in rural areas.

We are excited and honored you have chosen to allow us to care for you and your family. As you can see, we are a fairly new clinic and we have a lot of things to learn and adjust as we settle in. Please be patient with us all. Though change is hard, we expect to never completely stop changing because medicine is changing faster than ever. The fact you have chosen to live in a rural area should not dictate the care you or your loved ones receive. We will continue to look for new ways and ideas and medicine to secure for you the level of care we would expect for our own loved ones.

Thank you!