“Do volunteer doctors do all the doctoring at Good Samaritan Clinic?”
That’s a question that is often asked about the Clinic. The answer is “no”.
Last summer, Good Samaritan Clinic began a partnership with the Fort Smith Area Health Education Center (AHEC). Faculty and residents of AHEC work with the Clinic’s nursing staff to offer primary care to uninsured patients at the Clinic.
The agreement provides for AHEC personnel to be onsite at the Clinic 
four-and-a-half days each week. The AHEC physicians’ services are in addition to other local physicians who volunteer at the Clinic on a weekly or monthly basis.
While at Good Samaritan Clinic, AHEC doctors follow our policies. The working arrangement did not change the autonomy of the Clinic regarding patient eligibility, cost, or services.
Our partnership with AHEC has been a “win-win” situation for everyone involved. GSC patients have the supportive care of family practice physicians. AHEC residents have an opportunity to care for people in a unique setting. Good Samaritan Clinic can treat more patients — and do so at considerable savings over the cost of an Advanced Nurse Practitioner. We still provide continuity of care, because patients follow up with the same physicians most of the time.
So… now you know about the “doctors in the house” at Good Samaritan Clinic.
Pass it on.
