The history of high plains chc...

In 1992, Prowers County was served by two primary care physicians with approximately the same 14,000 population as now.  Needless to say, they were overwhelmed and access was very limited.  A community organization called Health Resources, Inc., whose mission was to facilitate the provision of health care services in the community, decided to bring a community health center to Prowers County.  As a result of these community volunteers, High Plains opened in August, 1995, for primary medical care. Our first expansion was the addition of a dental program in December, 1995, hiring a dentist, dental hygienist and assistant to initiate that function.  We added a local physician and support staff to the practice in 1996, an additional physician assistant in 1997, by which time we had grossly outgrown our 3,600 square foot office.  We were able to purchase a retiring physicians office in 1998 and convert it to a three operatory dental office. 

 

Business was booming in the medical office by 1998, and we began making plans to build a larger medical and administrative facility.  This came to fruition in 2001 when we built and moved into a state-of-the-art 12,500 square foot medical and administration building.  This addition allowed us to add x-ray and lab services on-site.  We purchased additional space for the dental office in 2003, adding a second dentist and dental hygienist to staff the now eight dental operatories.  In 2004, we did some remodeling in the medical office to create an in-house pharmacy and in 2006 added digital x-ray capability to the dental office.  In 2008, we upgraded our practice management system and implemented electronic dental and medical records.  In 2009, we remodeled our dental office to increase capacity to nine operatories.  We have a $3.5 million dollar annual budget and have grown from the original six staff in 1995, to a staff of sixty including seven medical providers and four dental providers.

 

High Plains is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization governed by a mostly consumer Board of Directors  and managed by an Executive Director, Medical Director, Dental Director and Operations Officer.   The whole purpose of High Plains is to provide quality health care that is made accessible by utilizing a sliding fee scale for all services, available because of predominately same day appointments, and reachable due to free transportation to the clinics.  High Plains operates out of five sites including the main medical site, the dental site across the street, a full-time clinic at Lamar Community College, a part-time school-based clinic at Lamar High School and a part-time site in Granada, CO to provide care to migrant farm workers in the summer.

 

High Plains Community Health Center is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC).  Patients are served from all over Southeastern Colorado including Prowers, Baca, Bent and Kiowa Counties.  In calendar year 2009, High Plains provided primary care services to 7,814 unduplicated patients during 27,878 visits.  This included 21,110 visits to 6,322 medical patients and 6,801 visits to 2,753 dental patients.  We also have a full-time mental health clinician, supplied by Southeast Mental Health Services, stationed at our main medical facility for the purpose of integrating physical health and behavioral health.  Comprehensive primary care services provided on-site include acute medical and dental care, well-child exams, pharmacy, health education, case management, immunizations, x-rays, laboratory, preventive and restorative dental care, chronic illness care, well woman exams, and individual, group and family psychotherapy. We are staffed with three physicians, three nurse practitioners, one physician assistant, two dentists and two dental hygienists.  We provide care to all ages in all three arenas of medical, oral and mental health.  All services are on an outpatient basis.

 

Service to Underserved Populations – Community Health Centers are only funded in Medically Underserved Areas (MUA’s) and Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA’s).  Prowers County is designated as both with 48.7% of the population living in families with incomes at or below 200% of the federal poverty level.  High Plains specifically targets underserved populations for access to care but serves all community members.  The methodology utilized to ensure access includes a sliding fee scale based on income for all medical, dental and mental health services, Spanish competency including several providers fluent in Spanish, free transportation, eligibility workers to qualify patients for the sliding fee scale and assist with Medicaid and CHP+ applications, many free preventive services such as colonoscopies, paps and mammograms, evening clinics for migrant farm workers, free services for the uninsured at a school-based clinic at Lamar High School, and affordable medications.