7th District Healthcare Plan
Healthcare That Reaches You
Making rural healthcare reachable, practical, and fiscally accountable for Northeast Washington.
Not spend more. Not spend less. Spend RIGHT!
Healthcare Is Personal
Ron served over 20 years in the United States Navy and has navigated the VA system firsthand as a disabled veteran in a rural community. He knows what it means to need care and struggle to access it. That experience drives this plan.
The Problem
Northeast Washington faces a healthcare crisis built by distance, provider shortages, limited transportation, pharmacy pressure, and an aging population. The people most affected are often seniors, veterans, caregivers, and low-income families.
Provider Shortages
Across Ferry, Stevens, and Pend Oreille counties, primary care access varies sharply, and many rural residents face long waits and long drives to see a provider.
Limited Crisis Care
North Central and Northeast Washington have limited inpatient mental health and substance-use treatment options, often requiring long drives for detox or crisis care.
Food Insecurity
Food insecurity affects roughly one in ten Washington residents, and rural communities face added barriers from distance, transportation, and limited grocery access.
An Aging District
In Stevens County alone, nearly 25% of residents are over 64. As the district ages, demand for care, transportation, home care, and caregiver support continues to grow.
Pharmacy Deserts
Rural pharmacies can be pushed toward closure by low reimbursements, staffing shortages, and corporate PBM clawback fees.
Fragile Rural Services
Providence’s 2025 closures included an orthopedic physical therapy clinic at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Chewelah. Orthopedic PT access remains at Providence Mount Carmel in Colville, but losing a local site shows how fragile rural access has become.
Ron’s Goal
Ron’s role as State Senator is not to reinvent healthcare from Olympia. His job is to maximize local assets, cut regulatory red tape, direct existing dollars home, and build a self-sustaining rural health ecosystem that protects taxpayers while delivering real results.
First-Term Legislative Actions
These are specific bills, amendments, and budget provisos Ron will champion in his first term. Each is grounded in existing Washington State policy frameworks — no new bureaucracy and no new local taxes.
| Action | What It Does |
|---|---|
| Pharmacy Stabilization & Scope Act | Expand pharmacist scope in shortage-area zip codes, ban PBM clawback fees from independent rural pharmacies, improve Medicaid reimbursement, and relax technician licensing in rural shortage areas. |
| Community Health Worker Training | Fund Community Health Worker slots at SFCC and Columbia Basin College, with 2-year rural service scholarships for communities like Colville, Chewelah, Newport, Republic, and Omak. |
| Senior Care Affordability | Expand existing TSOA and MAC-style support for seniors caught between Medicaid eligibility and private home care costs. |
| Frontline Care Differential | Support wage bonuses for healthcare receptionists, intake secretaries, and public-service staff who complete trauma-informed care and de-escalation training. |
| Locum Tenens Pool | Create a rural substitute-provider pool so small clinics do not close when one provider takes leave, retires, or relocates. |
| B&O Tax Credit for Rural Wage Parity | Give rural home care agencies a targeted tax credit when they raise wages to compete with urban markets and keep workers local. |
| Medical Respite Service Incentive | Support cluster-based rural care delivery so visiting nurses can treat multiple patients in one stop and hospitals have safer discharge options. |
Healthcare Infrastructure & Logistics
Access to healthcare is not just about insurance. It is about whether people can find care, understand where to go, and physically reach the appointment.
Rural Health Navigation Line
A regional call center staffed by nurses, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, community health workers, and referral specialists to help rural residents understand options and avoid unnecessary emergency room visits.
Scheduled Rural Health Access Routes
Appointment-first shuttle routes from 7th District town centers to Spokane medical hubs, with empty seats available for prescriptions, lab work, dental care, and social services.
Verification & Fiscal Protection
Rides would use clinic-generated verification codes, HIPAA-safe trip confirmation, sliding-scale fees for non-Medicaid users, and no-show protections to prevent waste.
Rural Medical Respite Campus
Small modular clusters near medical infrastructure, such as Colville, would allow visiting nurses to treat multiple patients in one stop and give hospitals a safe landing spot for low-acuity patients.
Why Transportation Matters
Providence’s 2025 Community Health Needs Assessment for Mount Carmel Hospital in Colville and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Chewelah named transportation as a top community-identified barrier to care. Rural Resources received a 2025 Providence grant to provide transportation support and home assistance to seniors, reaching 500 individuals — a fraction of the nearly 12,000 seniors in Stevens County.
The need is bigger than any one grant.
Rural Health Literacy Initiative
Healthy communities start with informed communities. Ron’s plan replaces vague slogans with concrete, factual, rotating health education delivered where people already are.
Concrete Facts Only
Use measurable health facts instead of vague slogans. For example: walking 30 minutes a day can cut heart disease risk by about 30%.
Quarterly Rotation
Install durable sign frames at parks, trailheads, clinics, pharmacies, and community centers, then rotate inserts every quarter to prevent sign blindness.
Local Jobs Created
Fund a regional health infrastructure crew to rotate inserts, maintain frames, and report visibility issues — local public-service jobs, not outside contractors.
Multi-Channel Delivery
Use clinic posters, pharmacy flyers, school materials, county fair booths, and social media kits so the same message reaches residents in multiple places.
Landowner Partnership Program
Government right-of-way is limited in rural counties. Private land is abundant. Ron’s Health Literacy Initiative would use voluntary sign easements to place health information on visible private land while compensating landowners.
How It Works
A landowner grants a small sign easement. The state installs a durable modular frame. The landowner receives an annual easement payment while the frame is active.
Why Landowners Say Yes
Annual income, minimal land disruption, voluntary participation, and the right to decline renewal.
Spend It RIGHT
The program spreads health education while putting money into rural landowners’ pockets instead of sending the work outside the district.
Developmental Disabilities
Families caring for loved ones with developmental disabilities face limited DDA services, inadequate respite care, poor transportation access, and caregiver burnout.
- Expand DDA employment support services in rural counties.
- Improve rural respite care access for caregivers.
- Include adults with developmental disabilities in Rural Health Access Route planning.
- Support caregiver wage parity for DDA home providers in rural areas.
- Push for DDA service funding to follow the individual into rural communities instead of concentrating services in urban centers.
Where the Money Comes From
This plan does not require new local taxes. The funding sources are federal dollars already allocated to Washington, existing state programs, and private partners with a financial incentive to participate.
Federal Sources
Rural Health Transformation Program, HRSA Rural Health Grants, Rural Communities Opioid Response, WSDOT public transportation grants, and VA Community Care.
Existing State Programs
TSOA, MAC, HCA trauma-informed training, the WA Office of Rural Health, and higher education budget provisos for rural workforce training.
Private & Community Partners
Better Health Together, Providence, MultiCare, Empire Health Foundation, and regional healthcare organizations.
What Success Looks Like
A plan should be measured. Ron will push for public tracking so taxpayers can see whether rural healthcare access is actually improving.
The Bottom Line
Veterans should not have to drive to Spokane to access care they earned through their service. Seniors should not have to choose between healthcare and groceries because the nearest clinic closed. Families should not have to leave the 7th District to find accessible care.
By directing existing dollars home, expanding pharmacist and Community Health Worker capacity, supporting rural seniors and caregivers, building a health navigation line, and running accessible medical transportation, we can build a healthier 7th District without burdening local taxpayers.
Contact Ron’s TeamPaid for by the Committee to Elect Ron McCoy.