The Vision
“To create a healthcare network sought after by providers, payers, employers, and patients because of its quality and value”
The Colorado Network is a collaborative effort between rural hospitals in Colorado and their associated physicians. Many challenges in today’s healthcare environment are even more challenging in rural areas. Rural communities, while not isolated, can be tough to move in and out of during bad weather. Goods and services that come to rural communities must come at a premium cost of transportation and travel. Making sure rural communities have the right number of physicians in the specialties needed is often a problem not faced in larger urban areas where physician supply is not an issue. The Colorado Network exists to assist hospitals, physicians and patients in rural Colorado meeting these challenges in order to maintain a healthcare system in small towns that meets the needs of all concerned.
Network Communities
The hospitals and physicians in Springfield, Lamar, Trinidad, Salida, Alamosa, Burlington, La Jara, Pagosa Springs, Cortez, Montrose, Fruita, Rangely, Kremmling, Granby, Holyoke, and Wray all use The Colorado Network as their managed care department. By doing the commercial payer contracting for these facilities and their affiliated physicians, Network members take advantage of economies of scale. Freedom of choice is always there and members may ‘opt-in’ or ‘opt-out’ of payer arrangements as suits their needs. Some members also take advantage of available credentialing services for both physicians and facilities for both commercial and government payers.
A map on this website shows the locations of network members across rural Colorado.
The Mission
The Colorado Network is a community of healthcare delivery systems seeking optimum solutions to shared challenges and opportunities for its members and their communities to improve access to, and quality of, healthcare services, maximize economies of scale and effort, and to enhance the influence of its members through a coordinated effort.
What We Do
Payer contracting and credentialing, industry monitoring and reporting (we go to Denver for all those meetings and report back to you) tracking measures of quality and cost using publicly available means, pursuit of CMS Innovation Center Initiatives regarding practice transformation, marketing support and other services as needed in individual communities.
Rural healthcare systems have developed over many years to the point where residents in the most far-flung communities can enjoy state-of-the-art care and technology support. Like the local schools and other vital community services, healthcare at the local level is a cornerstone to the overall health of a community in both physical and economic terms, A vital healthcare system promotes the economic development and vitality of the community. With so many challenges facing small hospitals and their physicians, The Colorado Network aims to support the strength of the local healthcare providers for the benefit of their communities.