Doctors Care meets the medical and other needs of low-income patients

Chelsea Rasmussen was a teenager, pregnant, unemployed and looking for a medical office that accepted Medicaid. She went to Doctors care clinic in Littleton and found the help and support she has sought since her son was diagnosed with a rare neurological disease.

“I was just looking for suitable care for my newborn. That’s all I thought it was, but it turned into something more,” Rasmussen said.

The support Rasmussen has received through Doctors Care—food assistance, health care, education—forms the core of the program the nonprofit has developed since its launch in 1988. Doctors in Arapahoe, Douglas and Elbert counties have struggled to serve a growing number of uninsured people. people in need of medical care.

Dr. Gary VanderArk, a neurosurgeon and member of the Arapahoe Medical Society, concluded that if all the doctors in the area took on just a few uninsured patients, they could solve the problem. Those efforts grew into the Doctors Care program, according to Bebe Kleinman, CEO who has worked for the state for 25 years.

“To this day, many of the founding physicians are still donors and supporters of the organization,” Kleinman said.

VanderArk serves on the board of directors.

Walking through the clinic, Kleinman described Doctors Care as a “comprehensive, integrated healthcare model.”

“We provide basic primary care. We also have behavioral medicine,” she said. “We connect people to other services based on need: housing, food, life skills, more complex care.”

Staff and volunteers work to provide insurance coverage for people, whether through Medicaid or Connect for Health, Coloradothe state’s marketplace for those who don’t have employer-based insurance or other plans.

People without insurance may pay for treatment at the clinic on a sliding scale based on income. “But when people need services other than us, it helps if they have insurance. It opens doors,” Kleinman said.

Doctors Care employs physicians and other health care professionals, but also depends on a core group of volunteers to provide medical and other services.

“We have about eight volunteer doctors coming in throughout the week,” Kleinman said.

Many of the volunteers are primary care physicians, usually retired. Some specialists also put in time in the clinic. Kleinman said Colorado Physicians Insurance Co., or Copic, provides liability insurance for volunteer physicians, allowing them to help out at the clinic.

Doctors Care also partners with other organizations to provide outreach through promotoras, a Spanish term for trusted community members who educate people about health care and spread the word about the clinic. Clinic staff speak Spanish, Kleinman said.

Quantity The number of uninsured people has fallen since the Affordable Care Act took effect. in 2014, but rose again. Kleinman said approximately 22% of the clinic’s patients are uninsured, in part due to changes in Medicaid qualifications after the COVID-19 health emergency was declared over.

“We are now in an environment where philanthropy becomes even more valuable and important to us so we can keep our doors open,” Kleinman said.