The Walla Walla County Community Health Advisory Board (CHAB) reported Aug. 18 on work to finalize a two-year Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) that prioritizes behavioral health, housing affordability, and access to medical care. Don Shereen of CHAB briefed commissioners on the access-to-care work group's focus: medical transportation and alternatives when local services are not available.

CHAB noted that conventional health-data sources do not capture informal patient travel to out-of-area appointments — for example, rides to Sacred Heart or Spokane for specialty care — and described that data gap as an obstacle to planning. "One of the questions we had is how do we start generating the necessary data to track this?" Shereen said. The advisory group discussed state 2-1-1 service enhancements as a routing option that could help link callers to nonprofits or transportation providers, and it reviewed local examples such as Providence's shuttle programs and VA transport services.

Panelists also raised telehealth and school-based clinics as long-term solutions, and CHAB credited the local health library for piloting telehealth kits. Commissioners and CHAB members stressed the complexity: medical-transportation solutions may be covered by Medicaid/Apple Health in some cases, but funding and legal/insurance rules vary. CHAB plans to continue developing data sources and will bring its CHIP recommendations back to the board when options and feasible funding models are clearer.

Commissioner Clayton asked whether CHAB would make formal recommendations to the board; Shereen said CHAB expects to include actionable recommendations when the group can identify feasible, funded options. The board did not take immediate action but welcomed future CHAB proposals.