Rural Health Network Development Planning Grant Program - Petersburg Medical Center 103 Fram St, Petersburg, AK 99833 Independent 501(c)3 Non-Profit Critical Access Hospital https://www.pmcak.org/ Petersburg Medical Center (PMC) is an independent 501(c)3 non-profit Critical Access Hospital (CAH) serving the remote Southeast Alaska communities of Petersburg Borough. Along with South Peninsula Hospital (SPH, founded 1956) and Cordova Community Medical Center (CCMC, founded 1944), PMC proposes to use HRSA’s 2025 Rural Health Network Development Planning Program opportunity to plan and develop the Alaska Independent Critical Access Hospital Network (AKICN). In an age of increasing healthcare consolidation, these community-owned Alaskan CAHs remain unaffiliated with any larger healthcare system while working to provide vital primary, emergency, and behavioral health services and Long Term Care to HRSA-designated rural Health Professional Shortage Areas. Our independent status allows greater responsiveness to emerging needs and priorities in our service areas, but also intensifies challenges, particularly given rising costs and workforce shortages. The proposed new Network will work to achieve efficient and effective use of our collective resources, expand access to care, improve healthcare coordination and quality, and generate improved rural health outcomes. The service regions for the proposed project includes rural and remote Gulf of Alaska communities located in the service areas of the Network member CAHs: Southern Kenai Peninsula, Cordova, and Petersburg Borough. The populations to be served include all residents of these communities. The proposed project is highly aligned with Legislative Aims outlined in the funding opportunity. The Network members seek to Achieve efficiencies (Aim #1) through identification of potential shared costs and joint ventures; expand access to, coordinate, and improve the quality of basic health care services and associated health outcomes in our rural Alaska service areas, which currently experience entrenched health disparities (Aim #2); and in so doing, to strengthen the rural health care system in the Gulf of Alaska as a whole (Aim #3). Our project focus area based on our communities’ demonstrated health needs is to partner in the effective, efficient and integrated delivery of rural primary health services. Areas of significant and overlapping health needs identified through Alaska’s public health surveillance data and all three CAHs’ last decade of completed community health needs assessments (CHNAs) specifically include: (1) prevention, screening, and treatment of chronic disease to reduce rural health disparities; (2) sufficient Home Health and Long Term Care services for a burgeoning older adult / Elder population; (3) access to behavioral health services, particularly substance use prevention and treatment; (4) programs that address gaps in social determinants of health, such as affordable housing and childcare; and (5) ensuring the financial accessibility of healthcare for communities facing uncertain economies and soaring cost of living. The proposed project qualifies for this opportunity’s funding preference under Qualification 1: Health Professional Shortage Area because the service areas of all members of the proposed network are in officially designated health professional shortage areas (HPSAs), and under Qualification 3: Focus on Primary Care and Wellness and Prevention Strategies because the project focuses on primary care and wellness and prevention strategies, as documented and described in Attachment 8. Additionally, two out of three members of the proposed network serve officially designated medically underserved areas.
