Orcas Medical Foundation has announced that it is now in negotiations with University of Washington Neighborhood Clinics, following an announcement by Island Hospital that it would not extend its contract to manage Orcas Medical Center, effective December 31.Orcas Medical Foundation in talks with UW Neighborhood Clinics

“We’re very optimistic about our talks with UW Neighborhood Clinics,” said Catherine Henderson, President of the OMF Board.

UW Neighborhood Clinics is a network of primary and urgent care clinics located throughout the Puget Sound region. UW Neighborhood Clinics is an entity of UW Medicine, which includes Harborview Medical Center, UW Medical Center, UW Physicians, UW School of Medicine and Airlift Northwest – and is allied with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center as part of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.

The UW Neighborhood Clinics have earned six consecutive excellent accreditation scores for meeting nationally recognized standards of high-quality health care from the Accreditation Association of Ambulatory Health Care.

“Island Hospital’s decision was not unexpected,” noted Henderson. “It has been clear in recent communications between Island Hospital and our OMF Board that their expectations and ours were not moving closer together.”

According to Vince Oliver, CEO of Island Hospital, the Island Hospital Board of Commissioners voted to not extend its lease and clinic services agreement with OMF after a review and assessment of Island Hospital’s strategic priorities. The current contract and relationship between OMF and Island Hospital began in 2011.