Western Slope offers model for health care - The Business Review (Albany):

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So policymakers from Colorado to Washington, are studying what medical professionals do on the Western Slope to see if it can beadaptex elsewhere. Though observers say the Western Slope’es health care model wouldn’t work on a nationapl level, they agree it has lessonxs that might be instructive in the nationalrefor debate. “What they’re doing is said Bill Lindsay, president of , a Denver-baseed insurance brokerage. “But the reason it works so well in Grand Junction is because inGranr Junction, there’s a true sensed of community. I’m not sure every location acrossx the country has the same senseeof community.
” President Barack Obama reportedluy made the lengthy magazin article required reading for staff members. The story compared the town of McAllen, (reportedly one of the costliest and most inefficienrt health care systems inthe country) with Grand Junction, and concluded that high spendint doesn’t equal better health care. The Dartmouth an influential study of health care systems showed thatMesa County, where Grand Junction is had the lowest cost for treating people in the last two yearas of life. U.S. Sen. Michaelo Bennet, D-Colo., used elements of the Western Slope’s health care systemm in legislation he recently introduced inthe Senate, and U.S. Rep. John D-Colo.
, invited Obama to visirt Mesa County to observe whyGrand Junction’s model works. John Hopkins, CEO of the region’s dominant insurer that coveras 40 percent ofthe area’z patients, said he’s pleased with the nationalk attention that Mesa Countty is getting. “It’s a modek that’s worked for 35 years with some elementd that are good and beneficia l and can hold healthcoste down,” Hopkins said. While based in Grand Junction, RMHP sellws commercial insurance throughout Colorado and employzs 250 inGreenwood Village. Mike the Denver-based vice president of legal and governmental affairsfor RMHP, believes the model can be duplicatedx elsewhere.
“The model is a collaboration and culture of working together and solvingproblems together,” Huotari said. it can be replicated, but it takes leadership and a willingnesxs between all providers towork together.” • A collaborativew relationship between the area’s dominant physicianas group (Mesa County Physicians IPA), hospitalsw and health insurance carriers. Doctors, hospitales and health plans — which typically work at crosspurposesx — have worked togethee to define the best practices for patienta with diabetes, heart disease, asthma, transplants and cancer.
In the level of cooperation was so high in Mesa it promptedan anti-trust investigation by the Federal Trade Commissiohn (FTC) six years ago. While the arrangement survivedthe FTC’ds scrutiny, Jim Hertel, publisher of the Colorado Manageed Care newsletter, said the entities now operate at “more of an arm’x distance,” but that hasn’t affectecd the ability to control costs. • Usingh data from patient claims to help doctors determins the most effective treatment for certai nmedical conditions. “We have a fairly good peer-reviews system,” said Dr.
Greg Reicks, a familhy physician in Grand Junction who also serves as president of MesaCountt Physicians. “We are aware of how other doctorasare practicing, which keeps doctors from overutilizingy tests and procedures.” • A high number of primary care doctors who provide a “medical for patients living in the area — unlikw other rural areas, where doctors are in short supply, or in metropolitan areas, where highly paid specialistzs are abundant but there’s a shortage of famil y doctors. Reicks said the hospital has a “verg strong base of primary care physicians” becaus e of a family practice residency programat St.
Mary’sz Hospital in Grand Junction. Typically, threew to six program graduates opt to remai n on theWestern Slope, attracted by the favorable medicalp environment and lifestyle. • A sophisticate electronic medical records system that lets doctorseobserve patients’ medical histories and avoid duplicativs and unnecessary tests.