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The clinic, which serves Skagway's 862 residents, had been run by the financially beleaguered Skagway Medical Corp. The city of Skagway didn't renew the corporation's lease last month, in effect taking over operations.
Under the agreement, the city of Skagway would pay Bartlett $30,000 annually to manage the clinic for two years, said Skagway City Manager Bob Ward. The Skagway City Council would appoint a board to provide policy direction for the clinic, he said.
"The clinic employees will be employees of the city of Skagway and Bartlett will provide management support," Ward said. "There may be other services we would get from Bartlett that will be billed independently from the contract."
"It's a commitment to our regional perspective and of course, we get referrals out of the Skagway area," he said. "We're just glad to be out there."
It is the first time Bartlett has taken a management role in a nearby community's health clinic, he said.
The arrangement is similar to the relationship between the city of Juneau and Bartlett, Ward said. Bartlett is owned by the city of Juneau, but is managed by Texas-based QHR, formerly Quorum Health Resources.
Ward said the arrangement will mean better management at the small clinic. The city has filled budget gaps in recent years and paid $190,000 for uncollected bills at one point, he said.
"We've never really had an issue with the quality of medical service the community has enjoyed. The issues have been management," Ward said. "People will come in and get treatment and pay according to their ability to pay; there won't be quite so many people who skate on things. . . . We're not trying to get out of subsidizing the clinic, we just want to make sure the money is used most effectively."
Meanwhile, the future of Skagway Medical Corp. is unclear. Board Chairman Hillyard Enloe said the membership will vote whether to dissolve the corporation or keep it going. About 80 residents are SMC members, he said.
"It's kind of pointless to have a governing body with nothing to govern," he said. "We feel we did do our best, but it wasn't good enough or fast enough."
New clinic administrator Shaun Keef will be a Bartlett employee, with the city of Skagway paying his salary. The Skagway Medical Clinic has about seven employees and a Bartlett physician visits monthly. One of Bartlett's physicians will be the medical director for the clinic, Valliant said.
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