Saint Alphonsus Medical Center - Ontario Receives Grant to Provide Local Care to Outlying Areas of Malheur County

Saint Alphonsus Medical Center – Ontario Receives


Grant to Provide Local Care to Outlying Areas of Malheur County


MultiPlan award given to Saint Alphonsus will increase access to


primary and preventative care for rural communities of Eastern Oregon

Ontario, OR – Saint Alphonsus Medical Center in Ontario has been awarded a $7,500 grant to fund a new program that will increase access to care for residents of distant farming and ranching communities in Eastern Oregon. MultiPlan – the healthcare industry's most comprehensive provider of healthcare cost management solutions – awarded the grant to Saint Alphonsus to fund the Frontier Healthcare Access Project in Malheur County. The Frontier Healthcare Access Project addresses key barriers to care in the most rural and remote regions of the United States. According to the Oregon Department of Human Services, Malheur County has just 3.2 residents per square mile, and a 36% higher death rate from heart disease than the rest of Oregon.

"The people of Malheur County deserve to have equal access to care, no matter how far they are from Ontario," said Ken Hart, Vice President of Saint Alphonsus Medical Center - Ontario. "That's why we are grateful to MultiPlan for allowing us to bring care closer to home for these rural communities. This grant helps us to provide rural areas with high quality health and wellness services from Saint Alphonsus, improving the health outcomes for countless residents in Malheur County."

The key barriers that will be addressed by the Frontier Healthcare Access Project include lack of transportation, high rates of underinsured and uninsured, difficulty navigating through the healthcare system, and a lack of access to primary and preventative care. To address each of these barriers, the Frontier Healthcare Access Project will provide select rural communities of Malheur County with:

• Providers and screeners with free medical tests and one-on-one consultations;
• Nurse Navigators to make appointments and schedule follow-up exams;
• Certified Oregon health insurance assisters to help residents enroll in Medicaid and take advantage of insurance subsidies, and;
• A van service to transport residents from their communities to medical appointments in Ontario.

The Frontier Healthcare Access Project for Malheur County will be operational by the end of 2014.

About Saint Alphonsus Health System


As a faith-based Catholic ministry and not-for-profit health system, Saint Alphonsus Health System reinvests in the communities we serve, through charity care and other benefits. Our goal is to improve the health and well-being of people by emphasizing care that is patient-centered, physician-led, innovative and community-based. Saint Alphonsus Health System serves the people of southwestern Idaho, eastern Oregon and northern Nevada through these facilities: Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center - Boise, ID; Saint Alphonsus Medical Center – Nampa, ID; Saint Alphonsus Medical Center – Ontario, OR; Saint Alphonsus Medical Center – Baker City, OR; and, Saint Alphonsus Medical Group with primary and specialty care providers at 58 clinic locations, all of which are members of the Saint Alphonsus Health Alliance, a network of over 1400 employed and independent providers. To find out more go to: www.saintalphonsus.org