BUSINESS
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2020
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A7
Eastern Oregon hospitals launch Summit Health
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
Eastern Oregon hospitals
are partnering to launch a
new health insurance option.
The newly formed Sum-
mit Health will offer Medi-
care plans to residents of
Umatilla, Morrow, Baker,
Gilliam,
Grant,
Har-
ney, Lake, Malheur, Sher-
man, Union, Wallowa and
Wheeler counties. The plans
will be available when open
enrollment for Medicare
begins on Oct. 15.
Harry Geller, CEO of
CHI St. Anthony Hospital
in Pendleton, said the hos-
pitals involved have already
had a unique and “very suc-
cessful” partnership with
each other and Moda Health
in improving outcomes
for Medic-
aid patients
through the
Eastern Ore-
gon Coordi-
nated Care
Organiza-
Burke
tion.
“That mutual respect
and collaboration is a fun-
damental reason it has been
so successful,” he said. “It’s
a very refreshing working
relationship.”
Those same founders
of Summit Health are St.
Anthony, Good Shepherd
Health Care System, Grande
Ronde Hospital and Clin-
ics, Saint Alphonsus Health
System, GOBHI, Eastern
Oregon IPA, Yakima Valley
Farm Workers Clinic and
Moda.
Geller said right now in
Eastern Oregon there aren’t
many senior citizens partic-
ipating in Medicare Advan-
tage plans, and Summit
Health will be able to offer
them more choices. He said
the providers were excited
and optimistic about the
benefi ts to residents.
“There’s a big gap in the
market for this sort of plan,”
he said.
Medicare Advantage is
an all-in-one type of Medi-
care plan offered by private
health insurance companies
under a contract with Medi-
care. Those plans bundle
parts A, B and D of Medi-
care coverage together and
sometimes offer additional
benefi ts, such as dental or
vision that traditional Medi-
care doesn’t cover.
Dennis Burke, CEO of
Good Shepherd Health Care
System in Hermiston, said
offering Medicare Advan-
tage plans through Summit
Health will offer area senior
citizens more options, but it
also gives greater fl exibility
to the hospitals involved.
By receiving a fl at, con-
tracted rate from Medi-
care instead of per-proce-
dure reimbursement, Burke
said they can use the money
more creatively for preven-
tative care and measures that
can help improve outcomes
for patients before they need
an expensive treatment.
One example he gave was
the hospital’s CareVan pro-
gram, which gives patients
free rides to appointments
to ensure they don’t end
up canceling a doctor’s
appointment or not seeking
treatment in the fi rst place
because they don’t have a
ride. A missed appointment
can mean a missed opportu-
nity to catch a problem early,
resulting in more expensive
treatment later.
Coordinated care organi-
zations, such as Eastern Ore-
gon Coordinated Care Orga-
nization, were founded on
a similar idea of reducing
health care costs through pre-
ventative care and overcom-
ing barriers to care, such as
limited transportation. Those
organizations focus on Med-
icaid patients, such as those
on the Oregon Health Plan,
but Burke said the EOCCO
partners have learned a lot
from that partnership that
can be applied to the popula-
tion using Medicare.
“I think we’ve gained
quite a lot of experience
doing that,” he said.
Sean Jessup, the presi-
dent of Summit Health, said
the insurance group is a part-
nership of local providers
with a track record of work-
ing successfully together,
that patients already know
and trust. He said there has
been “limited options” for
for Medicare Advantage in
Eastern Oregon in the past.
“This product is for East-
ern Oregon, and operated by
Eastern Oregon providers,”
he said.
Open enrollment for
Medicare begins Oct. 15 and
ends Dec. 7, 2020. Medi-
care enrollees can visit your-
summithealth.com or talk to
their local insurance agent
about plans offered by Sum-
mit Health.
Grants mean Maxwell Market can reopen Thursday
By JADE MCDOWELL
NEWS EDITOR
After a monthlong hia-
tus, the Maxwell Market
will reopen Thursday, Aug.
27, with the help of grants
from the city of Hermiston
and Umatilla County.
Owner Mitch Myers
said the market closed for
a week at the end of July
when temperatures in
Hermiston were expected
to reach 110 degrees, and
then remained closed when
Umatilla County was put
back to baseline status in
response to rising COVID-
19 numbers.
“We had to make a deci-
sion at that point,” he said.
Unlike many farmer’s
markets that are run as
nonprofi ts by volunteers,
the Maxwell Market is run
as a subsidiary of Myers’
businesses. He said he has
always run it as a bene-
fi t to the community, and
hasn’t turned a profi t on
it, but revenue from ven-
dors renting space does
help him pay for the enter-
tainment, staff and other
expenses.
This year, however,
had brought less revenue
as vendors have had to be
spaced out more for social
distancing and some have
dropped out due to low
turnout. On top of that,
Myers said, it is harder for
him to subsidize the mar-
ket when his other busi-
nesses, such as the Max-
well Event Center and
Nookie’s Restaurant, have
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Staff photo by Ben Lonergan, File
Fresh blueberries line a table at the Maxwell Market on
Thursday, July 23, 2020.
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan, File
People stroll through the Maxwell Market in July.
been closed and not bring-
ing in any revenue.
As he was deciding
whether to reopen the mar-
ket for the last six weeks
of the season, he said, he
reached out to Umatilla
County
Commissioner
George Murdock and
Mark Morgan at the city
of Hermiston, and both
agreed to give the mar-
ket a grant to cover some
of Myers’ expenses and to
cover all vendors’ fees for
the rest of the season so
they don’t have to pay to
set up shop each week.
Myers said the pri-
vate-public
partnership
will benefi t more than just
the vendors.
“I think the market
is good for the commu-
nity,” he said. “I think it’s
important for the vendors,
and it’s important for peo-
ple socially, to give them
some sense of normalcy. I
still believe the community
needs some normalcy.”
Myers said the market
has stringent safety pro-
tocols for COVID-19 in
place. Vendors must wear
masks, social distanc-
ing measures are in place
and surfaces are sanitized
regularly.
Starting Thursday, Aug.
27, the Maxwell Mar-
ket will run from 4-7 p.m.
each Thursday at the Max-
well Pavilion on the corner
of South First Street and
Locust Avenue.
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CRISIS PHONE: 866-343-4473
HERMISTON: 595 NW 11th St. • 541-567-2536
PENDLETON: 331 SE 2nd St. • 541-276-6207
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email:
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1060 W. Elm, Suite #115, Hermiston
(across from Good Shepherd Medical Center)
www.apd4kidz.com
Office hours: Mon-Fri 8am-4pm
jjewett@hermistonherald.com
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