Funding Strategy: Build Health Care Professionals Workforce

Grant Examples

If there are enough primary care health professionals trained to deliver integrated care, and they are distributed throughout Colorado, then Coloradans will have access to cost-effective, quality, coordinated health care.

The Colorado Health Foundation invests its resources in the following areas to increase the number of health professionals in Colorado:

• Expand and enhance recruitment and retention of primary care health professionals (physical, mental and oral) by:
  • Offering loan repayment, scholarships and direct incentives for primary physical, mental and oral health care professionals
  • Enhancing the ability of communities in rural Colorado to recruit and retain quality health care professionals
  • Developing and promote educational experiences and training programs in rural and urban health centers and clinics
  • Supporting efforts to increase diversity and cultural competence of primary care health professionals
  • Promoting effective mentoring and academic support programs for primary care health professionals
• Train primary care health professionals to provide integrated care and work in team-based, patient-centered medical homes by:
  • Supporting the development of interdisciplinary educational programs, training initiatives and clinical practice sites
  • Supporting efforts to educate and train primary care providers and their public health partners on integrated care, chronic diseases, aging, prevention, etc.
  • Funding graduate medical education programs in primary care
• Support changes in health care delivery systems that improve usage and allocation of primary care health professionals by:
  • Promoting health care delivery models that optimize skills and training of primary care physicians, advanced practice registered nurses, physician assistants and registered nurses
  • Supporting efforts to enhance and reform reimbursement for primary care
  • Funding innovative service delivery models such as telehealth
• Build support for primary care workforce by:
  • Enhancing data collection and analysis of primary physical, mental and oral health professionals' supply, demand and shortages in Colorado — with a focus on the safety net
  • Championing statewide policy efforts to address health professionals workforce shortages
  • Communicating and engaging students, policymakers, state government, clinics, patients, health professionals and stakeholders on the importance and value of primary care