Health Extension Partner State: Colorado

Ongoing meetings of key stakeholders from the Center for Improving Value in Health Care, the University of Colorado, the Colorado Area Health Education Center, Health TeamWorks, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, and others have resulted in an initial partnership for the formation of a Colorado Health Extension Service. Its mission is to improve health and health care across Colorado through: 1) supporting redesign and innovation in primary care practices, improving their readiness for new payment models through technical assistance and infrastructure development; 2) promoting local collaboration among health care providers, community groups, patient advisory groups, local public health officers, and public health agencies; and 3) facilitating local or regional efforts to improve health care to meet the triple aim of improving quality, improving experience of health care, and reeducating costs. The basic framework for the extension service is the provision of a collaborative central hub of supportive services that can be deployed at the local, community level through community-based health extension agents. The extension service will be a statewide network that gives practices the tools and resources they need to become patient centered medical homes and to go beyond PCMH and thrive in the medical and public health neighborhoods of tomorrow. The extension service will also support practices with research and data to facilitate their success in the integrated delivery systems taking shape.