The La Plata Healthcare Improvement Coalition, an effort organized by the League of Women Voters of La Plata County, launched this June with more than 65 individuals and volunteers participating, including leadership of Mercy Hospital, Animas Surgical Hospital, Axis Health System, La Plata County, city of Durango, town of Bayfield, Southern Ute Indian Tribe, Local First Foundation, Durango School District 9-R, Fort Lewis College, United Way, Community Foundation, Compañeros, Region 9 Economic Development District of Southwest Colorado, Pediatric Partners of the Southwest and many others.

LPHIC members have been meeting monthly in five work groups – Accessibility, Affordability, Availability, Community Benefit and Healthcare Data – with facilitated discussions focused on strengthening and improving our local health care system.

Here is a brief update of each group’s progress to date:

Accessibility
Health resource knowledge/literacy: The work group has prioritized the lack of health resource knowledge/literacy as a significant barrier to health care access in La Plata County. A sub group of LPHIC members is currently conducting a study to evaluate the feasibility of creating a Community Care Hub that helps connect residents to existing organizations and services in our community.Transportation: This work group has also identified the lack of transportation, particularly in the rural areas of La Plata County, as a significant barrier to health care access and is exploring potential solutions.
Affordability
Health insurance literacy: The group is exploring how to expand local resources for helping patients navigate medical billing and claims issues, obtain financial assistance to cover health care costs and advocating for themselves and others.Price transparency: The group has learned about existing tools that allow consumers to compare the average prices of selected procedures at different facilities. The group is exploring how local providers are making pricing information publicly available.
Availability
Provider availability: Reports to the group by Mercy, Axis Health System and Durangoans for Improved Health Care indicate significant progress has been made in recruiting and filling gaps in primary care, cardiovascular services, critical care services, pulmonology, gastroenterology, urology and hematology-oncology. Feasibility and sustainability of a public website listing local providers is being evaluated.Health care workforce recruitment and retention: The group has prioritized this area for identifying causes of recruitment difficulties and retention challenges.Alzheimer’s, dementia and long-term care support services: The group has prioritized availability of Alzheimer’s, dementia and long-term care resources and support as areas of need in our community and established a task force to develop a community “Plan for Aging.”Availability of reproductive health care and medical aid in dying: In 2024, the group intends to evaluate ways to provide for additional reproductive health care and medical aid in dying services in our community.
Community Benefit

The group is exploring opportunities to help strengthen local collaborations and initiatives addressing gaps in access to mental health services, substance use, suicide prevention, food security, affordable housing and workforce availability.

Health care Data
Interoperability: The group has heard presentations from multiple Health Information Exchange companies, as well as Common Spirit, to understand the options for sharing patient records between providers. A report is being developed to support local providers in improving adoption and utilization of the available tools.
Community Healthcare Dashboard:

The group is providing consultation and support to Local First on their plans to develop a Web-based “dashboard” that tracks, monitors and reports on a variety of local healthcare indicators including hospital visits, health status, disease risk, medical costs, etc.

For more information about LPHIC, please visit lphic.org.

Greg and Jan Phillips are the chair and vice-chair of the La Plata Healthcare Improvement Coalition and are longtime residents of Durango.