GAPS? Survey results will help providers determine types of care required and clinic locations.
WASILLA -- Valley health care providers are developing a snapshot of medical needs in the Mat-Su area with the results of a telephone survey released last week.
As one part of a larger study to figure out where new clinics should be built and what patients in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough need, callers asked residents about everything from their wallets to their weight.
Overall, the survey shows that most people stay in the Valley rather than head to Anchorage for medical care. More than 15 percent of the people questioned said they have no or only partial health insurance coverage.
The survey included dozens of visits to community council meetings and gatherings, and it was conducted during a growth in medical services in the region.
As the new Mat-Su Valley Medical Center nears completion, Mat-Su Health Services -- the new name for Behavioral Health Services of Mat-Su -- expects to start a Wasilla community health center for people with little or no insurance. Along with the Chickaloon and Knik tribes, the Southcentral Foundation in late January opened a clinic called the Valley Native Primary Care Center in Wasilla.
Still, clinics throughout the borough report the need for more dentists, counselors and hospice care, among others. To measure that need, Information Insights, a consulting firm from Fairbanks, surveyed 400 Valley residents. The Mat-Su Rural Health Care Network, a collection of health care providers from around the borough, spearheaded the $250,000 project.
The rural health care network was launched roughly four years ago, partly so various clinics and facilities wouldn't compete for the same grants. The money to pay for the survey passed through the Mat-Su Borough from the Denali Commission, which is set up to fund projects in rural Alaska.
Usually the Denali Commission pays for things such as new clinics or teacher housing, but in this case, the money was meant to help the Valley medical community figure out what patients need most.
"All of these clinics rely on grants, so this tool becomes very important in terms of data to justify the need," said Elizabeth Ripley, Valley Hospital spokeswoman.
The survey breaks the Mat-Su into four regions: the expansive Upper Susitna, which includes Talkeetna and Trapper Creek; the Glenn Highway region, which includes Lake Louise and Chickaloon; a "collar" area of Big Lake, Point MacKenzie and the homes that surround the core area; and, finally, Palmer and Wasilla.
Some of the phone survey results confirm problems long identified in the Valley.
For example, while 82 percent of respondents stay in the Mat-Su for their primary health care needs, nearly half of them head to Anchorage when it's time to see a specialist like an internist or pediatrician. Valley Hospital in Palmer has been trying to recruit more specialists to the Mat-Su for years.
Other findings are puzzling. For instance, why did only eight people out of the 400 surveyed say that getting a ride to the doctor's office wasn't a problem? Health care providers call transportation a common obstacle for many potential patients.
According to the survey results, which were released last week by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, the Upper Susitna region reported the lowest number of people with health insurance, with only 78 percent of those surveyed covered in some way. The rate was highest in the core area, where nearly nine out of 10 people polled are insured.
More than 87 percent of those surveyed said they plan to use the new Valley medical center that is expected to open next year. The service that people most often said they need, but can't afford, is dental care.
Finally, the survey asked residents if they or others in their family are overweight. The results? The core areas of Wasilla and Palmer have the heaviest households, while people in the Upper Susitna region say they're the thinnest.
Also this month, the new Mat-Su Health Services announced its plan to install a community health center in a wing of its 25,000-square-foot building at 1363 W. Spruce Ave. Mat-Su Health Services treats adults and children for things such as depression and anxiety.
The new health center is expected to open this fall with nine examining rooms, said CEO Maryalice Larson. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will fund the new services with about $650,000 a year, she said.
In January, Southcentral Foundation opened a clinic in Wasilla's Creekside Plaza to serve Alaska Natives and American Indians in the borough.
With one doctor and one physician's assistant, the facility is just getting started, but it fills a long-standing gap, said Dr. Douglas Eby, the foundation's vice president of medical services.
"All kinds of different sectors of the Native community have asked for one for some time," Eby said.
Contact reporter Kyle Hopkins at khopkins@adn.com or call 352-6710.
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