MMH selected as founding member of innovation group
A two-year, $3 million initiative kicked off June 12 to establish a robust statewide network of safety net providers that will learn how innovations around the delivery of care can improve the quality of care to underserved Coloradans.
Melissa Memorial Hospital is one of seven entities selected to join the Colorado Innovation Community as a founding member.
Despite the rapid expansion of health care models and technology solutions available in the field, safety net providers face barriers to innovation.
Federally Qualified Health Centers, community behavioral health clinics and critical access hospitals and other safety net providers encounter challenges including limited time, resource and staffing capacity, and high overhead expenses.
The Colorado Health Foundation, The Denver Foundation, Rose Community Foundation and Colorado Access have funded the new Colorado Innovation Community to support organizations as they explore effective and affordable patient-centered solutions.
Ultimately, it is the goal of the Colorado Innovation Community to improve access to care and advance health equity among the state’s Medicaid, uninsured and undocumented community members.
The Colorado Innovation Community is the first peer-learning collaborative of its kind focused on innovation in Colorado’s safety net.
Over the next two years, the founding members will meet regularly to identify, test and evaluate a broad set of innovative health care practices that include participation in a training program on applying human-centered design to address the most pressing challenges for underserved communities.
MMH is a critical access hospital with 15 beds and a rural health clinic serving the residents of Phillips County for over 100 years.
In addition to MMH, other founding members of Colorado Innovation Community are:
— Clinica Family Health, a Federally Qualified Health Center serving 56,000 patients through six outpatient clinics in south Boulder, Broomfield and west Adams County.
— Every Child Pediatrics, a community health clinic serving nearly 24,000 Colorado children in four stand-alone medical offices and nine school-based health centers across the state.
— Jefferson Center for Mental Health, a behavioral health clinic serving more than 32,000 people annually at 18 clinic locations in Jefferson, Gilpin and Clear Creek counties.
— Mental Health Center of Denver, a behavioral health clinic providing services and outreach to almost 70,000 children, families and adults annually at nine clinic locations and over 25 school-based sites in the city and county of Denver.
— Solvista Health, a behavioral health clinic serving more than 4,000 Coloradans at five locations across Fremont, Chaffee, Lake and Custer counties.
— STRIDE Community Health Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center serving 54,000 Coloradans across nearly 20 health center locations in Adams, Arapahoe, Douglas, Jefferson and Park counties.
The Center for Care Innovations, a California-based nonprofit with nearly two decades of experience creating similar safety net innovation communities across the country, will manage the initiative.
CCI will facilitate training and networking opportunities for the seven founding members initially selected for the cohort.
As part of the Colorado Innovation Community, the initiative’s funders and CCI are recognizing the importance of including safety net providers from rural communities, as they often face additional challenges due to workforce shortages and the long distances patients sometimes must travel to receive specialty and follow-up care.
“Safety net providers across Colorado often have limited time, resources and staff to effectively evaluate, adopt and scale innovative practices in their clinics such as patients using cellphones to remotely engage with their care team or using technology platforms to better connect with community-based partners,” said Veenu Aulakh, CCI’s president.
“This learning collaborative creates a dedicated commitment of time and resources for them to connect with each other to learn about best practices and take advantage of other experts in the field.”
In addition to the opportunity to learn from leading innovators and get hands-on support from technical experts, participating providers will receive grant funding to pilot the adoption of new technology solutions that will solve an access to care challenge for their unique patient populations.
CCI will also be fostering partnerships with a broad array of organizations to strengthen the innovation ecosystem in Colorado to apply a human-centered approach and leverage technology to solve some of the most challenging problems facing safety net providers.
“The bottom line is while our safety net providers understand the complex health needs that exist for low-income and rural Coloradans, providers are currently ill-equipped to effectively capitalize on innovative technologies that can increase access to culturally competent care within their local communities,” said Ben L. Bynum, M.D., Colorado Health Foundation portfolio director of program related investments.
“We see the launch of the Colorado Innovation Community as a catalyst for increasing the capacity of clinics to serve Coloradans living on low income with high-quality, comprehensive and integrated care that’s centered on patients’ vulnerabilities, unique needs and individual preferences.”
“Colorado Access decided to partner with the Colorado Innovation Community because we value innovation. As a Regional Accountable Entity covering over 500,000 Coloradans who have low income, our board and staff have made supporting innovation a priority for this organization,” said Marshall Thomas, M.D., CEO of Colorado Access.
“Our chief information officer has been working closely with CCI so that we can serve as not only a funder, but also as a partner in evaluating the results of pilots throughout this initiative.”