In the Community

October 24, 2011

Safety Net Clinic Spotlight: Clinica Family Health Services

Colorado Safety Net clinic provides efficient, high-quality care for people in need

Kaiser Permanente’s mission is to improve the health of its members and the communities it serves. One way it achieves that is by supporting programs and organizations that serve as part of the safety net, which provides access to health care to those who otherwise would go without it.

Clinica Family Health Services is one of many safety net clinics that Kaiser Permanente supports in Colorado. Representatives from the two organizations will pair up this December at the Institute for Healthcare’s (IHI) National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care, which is considered the meeting place for people committed to the mission of providing safe, effective patient care at a reasonable cost.

Clinica is a community health center serving a low-income, largely Latino population near Denver. Since its inception 30 years ago, Clinica has grown to serve 40,000 patients at four Colorado sites. Since 2007, Kaiser Permanente Colorado has awarded Clinica with $266,800 in grants and sponsorships. It’s also been a popular location for Kaiser Permanente physicians looking for volunteer experience in Colorado.

Clinica was featured recently in The New England Journal of Medicine and the Denver Post as a high-performing primary care clinic.

In 2000, Clinica redesigned its entire care model to become a patient-centered medical home. Researcher Tom Bodenheimer, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco states in the New England Journal of Medicine, “If achieving continuity is like climbing a 5,000-foot mountain, sustaining prompt access to care is like scaling one of Colorado’s 14,000-foot peaks. For 10 years, Clinica has provided most appointments within 6 days of patients’ requests, and usually within two days.”

Bill Wright, MD, executive medical director of the Colorado Permanente Medical Group, said Kaiser Permanente and Clinica share a common belief about the importance of caring for the health of the entire community. The center, he said, is an exceptional model of what is referred to as the “medical team” or “pod” approach. Moving from a doctor-based model to a care team model, all clinical services at Clinica are now provided by a group of clinicians and center on the patient’s needs. Each care team includes three primary care practitioners and three medical assistants (each working with a single clinician), plus an RN, a case manager, a behavioral health professional, and medical-records and front-desk staff. Teams also have part-time access to referral case managers and registered dieticians. Every team member shares responsibility for the team’s patients.

“Our aim is to help enable our safety net partners, like Clinica, to deliver the kind of integrated, patient-centered, culturally competent care that every person, rich or poor deserves,” said Winston Wong, MD, medical director, Kaiser Permanente Community Benefit, Disparities Improvement and Quality Initiatives.

Most of the funding that Kaiser Permanente Colorado has awarded Clinica was specifically granted to support the organization with Kaiser Permanente’s Project A-L-L, an evidence-based medication regimen that decreases risk of heart attack and stroke in diabetic patients over 50 years of age. A-L-L stands for Aspirin, Lisinopril (an ACE inhibitor), and Lipid-Lowering Medication (specifically statins).

During IHI’s 23rd annual National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care, Kaiser Permanente, Clinica, and one other Colorado safety net partner, will hold a workshop that focuses on lessons learned from the A-L-L project.

Every year, the National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care seeks to refuel the tanks of leaders of change, from executives to the front line. Drawing in more than 6,000 health care leaders from around the world, the conference is the premier meeting place for people committed to the mission of providing safe, effective patient care at a reasonable cost.

“It is a prestigious honor to be part of this forum,” Dr. Wong added. “These workshops allow for shared knowledge with health care leaders around the world to develop new models of care that improve the health of our most vulnerable populations.”