Building healthier communities together – this doesn’t happen inside our hospitals and clinics alone. Samaritan Health Services partners with organizations within our service area to offer top-quality care and assistance to the underserved in our communities.
Our mission is to serve everyone who needs health care, regardless of income or insurance. That’s why we support low-cost clinics in Corvallis and Lebanon, in which we work with Community Outreach, Inc. to provide administrative and clinical services; as well as Albany InReach Services, which serves residents of Albany, Millersburg and Tangent.
Samaritan physicians, nurses and other staff consistently volunteer their time; and Samaritan hospitals donate lab equipment, lab test services, X-ray exams and prescriptions to keep the clinics running. In addition, we fill thousands of free prescriptions, valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. In 2015, for example, Samaritan pharmacies filled 2,400 prescriptions for Benton County’s Community Outreach, Inc.; and 1,400 prescriptions for Albany InReach Services. Total value of those prescriptions is more than $130,000.
Benton, Lincoln and Linn counties also offer low-cost medical clinics in our service area. Community Health Centers of Benton and Linn Counties operates clinics in Corvallis, Monroe, Lebanon and Sweet Home. Lincoln County operates a clinic in Newport, as well as school-based health centers in Lincoln City, Newport, Toledo and Waldport.
Visit our partners online to learn more.
The Samaritan Medication Assistance Program provides free prescription medications for qualified patients at all five Samaritan-affiliated hospitals. The program helps people who have no medication insurance; do not qualify for Medicaid, Medicare Part D or other government-sponsored program that provides outpatient prescription coverage; have limited resources; or are otherwise unable to afford the cost of their medications.
Begun in 2004, the program immediately attracted hundreds of applicants; and by spring of the following year, it was dispensing more than $250,000 a month of free prescription drugs. Even since May 15, 2006, the date that Medicare’s new drug coverage, known as Part D, took effect, the Samaritan Medication Assistance Program has continued to be vitally important, providing more than $1.5 million of free prescription drug assistance since 2004.
While the federal Affordable Care Act has led to more people receiving insurance, the Medication Assistance Program continues to serve those who don’t have adequate insurance or can’t afford their prescriptions.
The Samaritan Medication Assistance Program operates through the Samaritan Elm Street Pharmacy in Albany. There, a pharmacy technician coordinator, in collaboration with pharmacy staff, works with drug manufacturers’ patient assistance programs to bring needed medications to often-overlooked populations.
Call 541-812-5078 for more information.
