Important Notice Regarding Medical Provider Staffing and Patient Services
The Narragansett Indian Health Center (NIHC) is currently experiencing significant provider staffing shortages that will temporarily affect the availability of medical appointments and certain patient services.
Over the coming weeks, patients may experience:
• Longer wait times for routine appointments.
• Reduced appointment availability.
• Delays in non-urgent prescription refill requests.
• Delays in reviewing non-urgent laboratory, imaging, and specialty consultation reports.
• Reduced availability for routine follow-up visits and preventive care appointments.
At this time, NIHC continues to provide medical services. However, due to limited provider availability, priority will be given to patients with urgent medical needs and time-sensitive clinical concerns.
The Health Center is actively recruiting physicians and advanced practice providers and is working with multiple recruitment resources to fill these vacancies as quickly as possible. We are also exploring additional options to maintain access to care during this transition.
Patients should continue to:
• Contact NIHC with any urgent medical concerns.
• Request prescription refills as early as possible to allow additional processing time.
• Keep scheduled appointments unless contacted by NIHC regarding a scheduling change.
Patients experiencing a medical emergency should call 911 or proceed to the nearest emergency department.
We understand that these temporary staffing shortages may create inconvenience, and we sincerely appreciate the patience, understanding, and continued support of our Tribal community as we work diligently to restore full provider coverage.
Thank you for your understanding
Your NIHC Team