OPINION: A high-quality Anchorage health care option, 50 years running

Working as a physician assistant in urgent care, I regularly treat patients who don’t have a primary care provider. Many people come to urgent care for refills on their routine medications. They usually leave with those unadjusted refills — there is rarely time to assess if the current medication or dosage needs a change — along with instructions to find a primary care provider.

Some patients come in for a sprained ankle or a urinary tract infection and leave with a diagnosis of high blood pressure or diabetes, diseases that without treatment can lead to severe health consequences, including death. To adequately treat these problems, the same provider needs to follow up with the patient at future visits. Continuity of care — seeing the same provider at multiple visits — is almost impossible in urgent care. These patients, too, are told to find a primary care provider.

So many people going without primary care in Anchorage drives up the overall cost of health care. The longer someone goes with untreated medical conditions, the worse their overall health becomes and the more expensive their future care will be. Insurance premiums go up and more taxpayer money must be allocated for public safety net programs.

The narrative I hear over and over is that primary care is simply unavailable in Anchorage, but this is not true.

• Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center is accepting new primary care patients.

• Anyone can establish care at ANHC.

• Mental health care is available to all ANHC patients.

• Dental care is available at ANHC on a sliding scale based on income.

The Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center is accepting new primary care patients, and they accept all private and public insurances. If a patient doesn’t have insurance, they are charged on a sliding scale based on their income. Not only does ANHC have capacity for more primary care patients, but all their primary care patients have access to mental health care onsite. Perhaps most surprising, they have a dental clinic that charges on a sliding scale.

The Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center was started by a group of physicians in November 1974. The mission was to ensure that every Anchorage resident had access to high-quality affordable health care, and that is just what they have been providing for 50 years.

The current wait time for a new patient to establish care at ANHC is 2-3 weeks, but my husband recently called to set up his initial appointment, and he was seen just 10 days later. It is remarkable that we have this facility in the heart of our city, and, yet so few are aware of it. If you or someone you know needs primary care, contact Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center at www.anhc.org or call 907-743-7200. Anyone can establish care at ANHC.

Rep. Andrew Gray is a physician assistant who represents the U-Med district in the Alaska State House; he hosts a weekly podcast called The East Anchorage Book Club. His Oct. 6 episode features Lisa Aquino, the CEO of Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center.

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