News Page Updated: Thursday, December 11, 2008 5:05 AM PST

Oregon’s Rural Health Clinic program

The Rural Health Clinic program has been an option for primary care services in rural Oregon since 1978. Oregon has 54 RHCs in 26 of the state’s 36 counties. The only RHC is Coos County is located in Powers. The RHCs closest to Bandon are Dunes Family Health Care in Reedsport and Curry Family Medical in Port Orford.

All RHCs must meet the following requirements:

• An RHC must be located in an area recently designated as either a “Health  Professional Shortage Area” or in a “Medically Underserved Area.”

• An RHC must predominantly practice primary care: family practice, internal medicine, pediatrics or obstetrics and gynecology.

• An RHC must employ or contract a mid-level provider, such as a nurse practitioner, physician assistant or certified nurse mid-wife at least 50 percent of the time the clinic is open. 

• An RHC must have physician oversight from a physician who is on-site once every two weeks, available to see patients, consult with the mid-level practitioner and review medical practices when necessary. 

• An RHC must maintain written patient care policies.

• An RHC must provide six basic lab tests on-site, such as blood tests, urine, pregnancy and cultures for transmittal other labs.

• RHCs may be run as for-profit, nonprofit or public organizations. For tax-exempt status, the clinic must be a socially charitable organization and fill a need that for-profit organizations have not found profitable enough to serve.

To learn more about the state’s RHC program, go to http://www.ohsu.edu/ohsuedu/ outreach/oregonruralhealth/clinics/about-clinics.cfm.