A major healthcare provider on the Outer Cape is closing its largest health center and reopening at a new, smaller location later this fall.
That's according to Tyler Jager of the Provincetown Independent.
CAI's Gilda Geist spoke to Tyler to learn more about what means for patient care.
Gilda Geist For our listeners not on the Outer Cape, can you please remind us what Outer Cape Health Services does and who it serves?
Tyler Jager Outer Cape Health Services is a community health center with centers in Harwichport, Provincetown and Wellfleet, and it has a federal designation for centers that serve underserved communities—in this case, the 10 outermost towns on Cape Cod.
GG What changes are coming to Outer Cape Health Services later this year?
TJ Outer Cape Health Services CEO Damian Archer has told us that its Harwich Port site is being moved. It's signed a lease with an owner of a property in Orleans, and they're planning to move by November 1 to that new site and close the Harwich Port building. The new site is much smaller than the Harwichport site, which is the largest of the three Outer Cape Health sites in terms of patient volume. It serves around 10,000 patients.
GG You spoke to Outer Cape Health Services CEO Damian Archer. What did he say about the reasoning behind these changes?
TJ So, Archer cited a couple reasons, one of them being that Outer Cape Health Services has had a lease for this Harwich Port site for 10 years and it's up, and they are choosing not to renew it, and one reason is that their services have changed quite a bit since they signed that lease. Many of their administrative staff now work largely remotely, and they're expecting to rely much more on telehealth, providing clinical services by phone or video instead of in person in the future. So, they're expecting much less brick-and-mortar space needed for primary care, so that's one reason that they're moving into a much smaller space. They're also eyeing the fact that reimbursement for insurance, as well as for people losing MassHealth potentially due to the work requirement going into effect next year, means that their balance sheet is looking a lot slimmer for the future. They also plan to buy a property once this five-year lease in Orleans is up. They own the properties that they are in in Wellfleet and Provincetown for clinics, and they don't own this third site. So, they're expecting by the end of this lease to have purchased a property that would be a more permanent place for the clinic.
GG How are these changes expected to impact patient care?
TJ Outer Cape Health Services says that there won't be a gap in services for primary care for clinic services for those patients that are going to Harwich Port for their care. Relying on telehealth is a big part of that. They plan to hire more clinicians who can see patients remotely and expect that move to save time for people who need to be seen in person due to the absolute necessity of their condition or for other reasons related to their care. And that's sort of what they expect to happen at the new Orleans site. They also say more than half of Outer Cape Health Services patients live between Brewster and Provincetown. The Harwich Port site can be quite far to get to off of Route 6, and this Orleans site is a little closer to the rotary, so there's a chance for some, it's a shorter travel time, and for others it may be longer.
