SEARHC and Swedish Medical Center to expand specialty services in SE Alaska

Beginning this fall, according to a press release from the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium, specialty services in Southeast Alaska will be expanded thanks to collaboration between SEARHC and Swedish Medical Center. The press release stated that a letter of intent was signed on Sept. 10 to expand both specialty services and clinics across the region. The services listed in the press release include neurology, urology, cardiology, rheumatology, and dermatology.

Dan Neumeister, senior executive vice president with SEARHC, said that the decision to collaborate with Swedish was the result of a months-long process. He said that the quality of patient care and number of specialists available made them an appealing partner. The initial plan, he explained, was for specialists with Swedish to travel to Sitka to work in SEARHC clinics. At first, he said, the specialists will only be around for a few days out of the month, and initially the specialists will only be in Sitka.

“Obviously we all want healthcare close to home,” Neumeister said. “I think the strategy we have is to start with what we can support.”

Neumeister said that the program will, hopefully, expand to other places around Southeast Alaska. He added that he would like to see specialist doctors in Wrangell, but it would depend on the demand for specialists in the area. Specialists are expensive, he explained, and a community would need to have a high enough volume of work to justify their visits. Specialists could come to Wrangell in the future, he said, but he did not want to over promise anything just yet. However, he did add that this collaboration would bring some other benefits to the area, even if specialists did not come to Wrangell immediately.

“It creates an easier pathway for our physicians in Wrangell to refer patients to specialists,” he said.

According to the press release, SEARHC and Swedish are still finalizing their agreement, which is expected to happen sometime in the fall. Neumesiter said that, ideally, specialists could be coming to Southeast Alaska as early as 2019.