As an academic health system with rural ties while also serving the Denver metro area, Aurora, Colo.-based UCHealth is focused on sustaining access and strengthening system reach through strategic partnerships and rural investments.
Partnering to sustain rural access
“We’re continuing to focus on how to improve activity, how to provide care close to home and in lower-cost settings, and how we can help other organizations in those communities, especially with providers, so we can continue to provide access,” said Elizabeth Concordia, UCHealth’s president and CEO. “It’s a huge challenge — not just because of the lack of reimbursement and all the Medicaid cuts — but also because there’s a shortage of providers.”
To help meet that challenge, UCHealth has partnered with Estes Park (Colo.) Health. Estes Park officially joined UCHealth Dec. 1 as UCHealth Estes Valley Medical Center. The partnership established a new board of directors to oversee the nonprofit hospital. UCHealth will also dedicate at least $20 million for routine maintenance and capital projects at EVMC over the next decade and assume $10 million of the facility’s long-term debt.
The Estes Park partnership formed after Pueblo, Colo.-based Parkview Health joined UCHealth in 2023.
“The partnerships we’ve done — for example, with Estes, Parkview and other organizations — are because, if we don’t help them, they won’t be able to continue to operate,” Ms. Concordia told Becker’s.
Deploying digital tools to support smaller hospitals
She pointed to UCHealth’s Epic Community Connect program as an example. The program allows physicians to use the health system’s Epic practice management and ambulatory EHR.
“These small hospitals don’t have the IT infrastructure, nor the sophistication needed to meet regulatory demands,” Ms. Concordia said. “Some hospitals, like Estes, did eventually join the system, but we already had a long-standing relationship with them. We had physicians in that community, and they were already on our Epic platform. They needed the support to remain sustainable and provide quality outcomes — that’s why we partnered with them.”
Leveraging behavioral health investment
UCHealth is also focused on sustaining access through investment in behavioral health. Specifically, the health system has expanded access to behavioral health services following a $150 million investment in 2019.
The health system, for example, opened a 40-bed inpatient unit at University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora in 2023, where more than 1,200 patients have received care, and is slated to open a 50-bed inpatient behavioral health unit at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colo., Dec. 8.
“There’s clear recognition that behavioral health challenges are significant, and access is a huge issue,” said Ms. Concordia. “We also recognized that if we can help patients earlier in the process — before issues become more severe — we can really improve outcomes.”
She said one of the areas that has made the largest cultural impact is embedding behavioral health into primary care practices. The health system has integrated licensed behavioral health specialists into 62 primary care clinics, and is expected to integrate 65 by the end of the year.
“When a primary care physician sees a patient and determines the issue is more behavioral health-related than internal medicine or family medicine, they can immediately say, ‘Let me walk you down the hall and introduce you to someone.’ Or they can say, ‘We’ll help schedule a follow-up with one of our counselors,'” Ms. Concordia said.
“That cultural shift breaks down barriers. Patients are more likely to follow through when they’re already in a familiar primary care setting, rather than going to a separate behavioral health facility. It increased compliance and made care more accessible.”
Navigating financial constraints while investing in care
At the same time, the system is focused on access and innovation, it must also navigate financial realities like reimbursement challenges. Ms. Concordia said the organization considers the total cost of care when balancing cost containment with these priorities.
“For patients with behavioral health issues, we know they tend to be higher utilizers of acute care. So from a value-based care perspective, it’s the right thing to do and also a long-term investment,” she said.
She added that UCHealth is also constantly focused on productivity — using technology and creating new models of care.
“We’ve stood up a large virtual health center, for example, that helps us take care of patients more efficiently in the hospital,” Ms. Concordia said. “It helps with patients who need observation or sitters, and it helps us identify quality issues, like sepsis, sooner.”
Building a culture of adaptability and innovation
System leaders often think about how to foster a culture of change. UCHealth is a relatively newer system, formed in 2012 when University of Colorado Hospital and Poudre Valley Health System merged. Today, the system has approximately 36,000 employees serving patients across 14 hospitals in Colorado, along with affiliated locations in Wyoming and Nebraska.
“The system has grown quickly, so that adaptability is in our culture,” Ms. Concordia said. “Colorado also has a population of people who tend to have moved here from other places, so there’s a broader willingness to adapt.”
Moving forward, she said the system is focused on new ways of delivering care — from virtual care to how patients schedule appointments or access their providers.
“Our app is pretty advanced, and we focus on how to make healthcare feel more like retail: easy scheduling, better access,” she said. “A large percentage of our patients can now schedule online for primary care, mammography and more. That adds a lot of efficiency.
“Our virtual care center allows us to provide more efficient care, too — patients don’t always have to drive in for visits. And we’re using technology to improve outcomes and lower costs.”
Additionally, the organization is bringing academic medicine into rural communities.
“For example, in some areas we run monthly oncology clinics so that the physician drives out — and 35 patients don’t have to drive in,” Ms. Concordia said. “We’re trying to expand clinical trials into all our outpatient and rural hospital settings so that patients can receive care in their communities instead of coming into the academic hub.”
Growing the workforce from within
Systemwide expansion hinges on workforce stability. Ms. Concordia emphasized the importance of reducing turnover and pointed to the UCHealth Ascend Career Program as a key strategy. The program offers employees the opportunity to be eligible for fully funded tuition assistance. Programs include nursing; associate and bachelor’s degrees in respiratory therapy and radiography; and clinical certificates for roles such as phlebotomy technician, medical assistant and pharmacy technician. More than 3,000 employees are currently enrolled in the career program.
“It’s about reducing vacancies and turnover — growing your own workforce,” Ms. Concordia said. “These employees already know your organization, and they stay with you.”
