“At this stage, we’re aiming to provide specialty care to 30 new patients every month, or 360 patients a year. The participating practices tell us the number of patients they are willing to see and our community-owned database allows us to stay within those parameters.”
Boulder County is home to 90K people who are publicly insured, or who remain uninsured – and an estimated 70% of those are unable to access medically necessary specialty care.
In response, the Boulder County Health Improvement Collaborative (BCHIC), an initiative of the Community Foundation, is working to improve access to specialty care for Medicaid and uninsured patients countywide – from recruiting medical specialists willing to treat Medicaid and uninsured patients, to streamlining a referral system for providers and care coordinators.
The Health Collaborative is pleased to announce the following practices that are participating in the pilot program, so far:
- BoulderCentre for Orthopedics
- Boulder Medical Center
- Boulder Valley Center for Dermatology
- Gastroenterology of the Rockies
- Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers
“These practices are really taking on a leadership role,” says Morgan McMillan, BCHIC Project Manager. “For the pilot, we chose dermatology, gastroenterology, orthopedics, endocrinology, podiatry, urology, and oncology because they’re in great demand, and have immediate potential to benefit vulnerable adults in Boulder County.
“At this stage, we’re aiming to provide specialty care to 30 new patients every month, or 360 patients a year. The participating practices tell us the number of patients they are willing to see and our community-owned database allows us to stay within those parameters.”
In the coming year, BCHIC will expand its network of participating practices to include additional specialties. All told, Boulder County has more than 2,500 people on referral waiting lists across 14 specialty areas. “With broad and evenly-distributed provider participation – each with as few as three additional patients per month – we’re confident that we can meet much of the unmet need for specialty care in our community,” adds Morgan.
BCHIC’s pilot funding came from a $300K grant from the Colorado Health Foundation, along with local funding support from Boulder Community Health, Exempla Good Samaritan Health Center, and Colorado Community Health Alliance. Salesforce is donating the initial database licenses and the technical support to customize the system to meet the community’s needs.
Last month, BCHIC was awarded additional funding ($282K over three years) from Kaiser Permanente Colorado to expand their work and to explore the integration of eConsults, allowing specialists to provide care remotely to patients in need. The Community Foundation/BCHIC is one of four organizations from across the state selected to participate in the three year cohort that seeks to leverage collective resources in developing tools for increasing access to care.
“We want the referral process to work better for both providers and patients,” explains Morgan. “That’s why we’re designing a referral system that captures relevant specialist requirements for a successful consult.”
Key to BCHIC’s success is broad participation – the more providers participate, the better: join us in encouraging community-minded friends of the foundation to mention BCHIC to their doctors on behalf of our most vulnerable community members. “The more we share the responsibility, the less falls on any one specialty care provider,” concludes Morgan.
Referring entities are:
- Boulder Community Health Ambulatory Clinics
- Clinica Family Health
- Salud Family Health Centers
BCHIC participants include:
- Avista Hospital
- BoulderCentre for Orthopedics
- Boulder Community Health
- Boulder County Area Agency on Aging Boulder County Housing and Human Services Boulder County Public Health
- Boulder Medical Center
- Boulder Valley Independent Physicians Association
- Clinica Family Health
- Community Foundation Boulder County Dental Aid
- Exempla Good Samaritan Hospital
- Frasier Meadows
- HealthBridge
- Integrated Physician Network
- Kaiser Permanente
- Longmont United Hospital
- Mental Health Partners
- Physician Health Partners
- Rocky Mountain Gastroenterology
- Salud Family Health Services
- The Boulder County Commissioners’ Office The Children’s Hospital
- TRU Community Care
- University of Colorado Boulder Wardenburg Health Services
- Women’s Health
