The Enduring Importance of Colorado’s Safety-Net Clinics

By Sharon Adams

Community Safety Net Clinics (CSNCs) and federally certified Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) throughout Colorado are celebrating the 5th Annual Safety Net Clinic Week, taking place Aug. 18-22. Sponsored by ClinicNET and the Colorado Rural Health Center, with support from COPIC and Kaiser Permanente, the week serves to educate the public, policymakers and community leaders about these important health care safety-net clinics.

Safety Net Clinic Week is a great opportunity to recognize and celebrate the work of CSNCs and RHCs serving vulnerable, at-risk Coloradans who are uninsured, underinsured or insured through public programs like Medicare or Medicaid, or subsidized health plans purchased through Connect for Health Colorado. The majority of patients served by the clinics are low-income, ethnically or racially diverse, and/or reside in underserved communities throughout Colorado. Despite barriers to coverage and access—as well as other social determinants of health that disproportionally impact their patients—the staff of these clinics work hard to provide culturally competent, patient- and family-centered, coordinated, comprehensive care to enable the best health outcomes possible for their patients.

Colorado’s CSNCs and RHCs include 89 clinics located in 43 counties statewide. Annually, they manage an estimated 878,000 visits from approximately 332,000 Coloradans, many in rural and underserved parts of our state. Safety-net clinics are diverse in their models and include free clinics, community clinics, hospital residency clinics, private-practice providers and rural health clinics. Many clinics fund their operations through grants or in-kind donations, and their clinic staffing models often include a significant number of volunteer providers.

Clinics statewide are hosting elected officials and candidates for office during Safety Net Clinic Week, offering Colorado leaders an opportunity to learn about our diverse health care safety-net and the patients and communities they serve. Multiple clinics are hosting open houses this week to celebrate with their community. With so much change taking place in health care in Colorado, and much still to be learned about how health care reform will ultimately impact the communities these clinics serve, the importance of this week cannot be understated.

CSNCs and RHCs address health disparities by providing consistent, high-quality, culturally sensitive health care services regardless of a patient’s coverage or financial limitations. This is something worth celebrating, both this week and well into the future. Please follow ClinicNET on Facebook or Twitter for more details.