Primary Care Patient Guide

The Internal Medicine and Family Medicine clinics at MCMC provide primary care services to keep you and your family healthy and to care for you when you are sick. While we work to hire additional providers to meet our community’s needs, we have temporarily restructured clinic operations to ensure that our patients continue to have access to needed care.

If you are a current patient with an MCMC primary care provider:

If you need to be seen immediately, we will make every effort to schedule you with a clinic provider. Though you may not always see your provider, you can rest assured that our entire primary care team delivers the high-quality care you expect and deserve. If we are unable to see you in clinic, we will assist and direct you to the appropriate alternative site of care. Call Family Medicine at 541.296.9151 or Internal Medicine 541.506.6920 for an appointment.

If you don’t have an immediate need, you may request an appointment with your established provider.

For prescription refills, contact your local pharmacy, and your pharmacy will contact MCMC.

Your lab results will be posted to your MyChart account and sent to you via letter. If you need follow-up care, our office will contact you directly.

If you are a current MCMC primary care patient, but don’t currently have a primary care provider:

If you need to be seen immediately, we will make every effort to schedule you with a clinic provider. If we are unable to see you in clinic, we will assist and direct you to the appropriate alternative site of care. Call Family Medicine at 541.296.9151 or Internal Medicine 541.506.6920 for an appointment.

If you don’t have an immediate need but want to schedule an appointment, you may call the clinic to request an appointment, and we will schedule you with a provider at our next available opening.

For prescription refills, contact your local pharmacy, and your pharmacy will contact MCMC.

Your lab results will be posted to your MyChart account and sent to you via letter. If you need follow-up care, our office will contact you directly.

If you are seeking a new physician at MCMC, or it’s been over three years since your last appointment:

Please call Family Medicine at 541.296.9151 or Internal Medicine 541.506.6920 and provide your name and phone number. We will add you to our outreach list and will contact you when we are accepting new patients.

For urgently needed care, we encourage you to visit Immediate Care at Water’s Edge, 551 Lone Pine Blvd, open daily, 10 am to 8 pm.

For life-threating conditions, our Emergency Room is open 24/7 and is located at 1700 E 19th Street in The Dalles, or call 9-1-1 for help.

1. What is the situation with primary care at MCMC?

MCMC is currently experiencing a shortage of primary care providers. Healthcare organizations across the nation have experienced a shortage of clinicians, leaving many communities–like ours–without an adequate number of physicians and advanced practice providers (nurse practitioners and physician assistants) to meet the needs of local residents.

2. What is MCMC doing about the shortage of primary care providers?

We are doing two very important things:

• We are actively working to recruit new physicians and advance practice providers, such as physician assistants and nurse practitioners.
• We have restructured our clinic operations to ensure our primary care patients continue to have access to the high-quality care they expect and deserve.

3. What has changed about how MCMC schedules primary care appointments?

We have developed a Guide to Primary Care at MCMC that explains how primary care appointments are currently being handled for:

• Patients who have an established primary care provider at MCMC
• MCMC primary care patients who no longer have an established primary care provider
• Patients who are not established at MCMC primary care.

4. Why is there such a long wait to see an MCMC primary care provider?

We are aware that some patients have experienced a delay in scheduling primary care appointments. Right now, our top priority is to ensure our patients have access to the care they need, when they need it. That is why we are actively managing providers’ schedules to ensure there is time available to see patients with acute medical needs. As such, patients with less urgent needs will have a longer wait time.

We are also reminding patients that they may utilize Immediate Care for urgently needed care. For life-threatening emergencies, our Emergency Department is always open.

5. Why is MCMC recruiting so many new physicians and advance practice providers?

Like many health systems across the country, MCMC has seen an uptick in patients seeking primary care. We expect this trend to continue as our community continues to grow. At the same time, we are working hard to fill openings that were created when some physicians and advance practice providers (nurse practitioners and physician assistants) left to pursue other opportunities. We are highly focused on recruiting new physicians and advance practice providers to ensure our community has access to needed primary care—now and in the future

6. have heard that lots of physicians and other providers are leaving MCMC. Is this true?

MCMC has a large network of providers, including primary care and specialty physicians. While some physicians have left–to pursue other opportunities, to move to be closer to family, to take a needed respite, etc.—we are not experiencing a shortage of physicians or advance practice providers (nurse practitioners and physician assistants) in any clinical area except primary care.

We remain focused on ensuring our community has access to needed care. We very much appreciate your understanding and support as we work to create a primary care program that will serve our community for generations to come.