Intermountain describes hybrid Wells clinic, says it cannot yet dispense prescriptions on-site

Sarah Isham, senior practice manager at Intermountain, told the Elko County Board of Health that Intermountain’s Wells clinic combines in-person care with telehealth to serve a rural patient population. “I’m Sarah Isham. I’m a senior practice manager at Intermountain, and I oversee the primary care clinic in Wells, Nevada,” she said and described the clinic’s first year of operation and its goal of offering accessible, high-quality care. Isham said the clinic provides primary care, vaccinations, Medicare annual wellness visits, lab services and Department of Transportation physicals, and that staff are working to add diagnostics such as x-ray and point-of-care testing.

Isham acknowledged a persistent barrier for patients: on-site dispensing of prescriptions. “At the moment, we cannot dispense, medications at our clinic. So we can, of course, prescribe, but our patients do have to drive to a pharmacy to get, to get their prescriptions,” she said. Intermountain said it is exploring virtual pharmacy partnerships and other solutions to reduce travel burdens for rural patients. Isham also listed current contracted payers — Aetna, Anthem Nevada, CHIP, Medicare, Nevada Medicaid, SelectHealth and Tricare — and said the clinic is still expanding its payer contracts to improve affordability for local residents.