Denver and Littleton Hospitals - Doctors Care

What is it?

Doctors Care provides access to affordable health care, through a coalition of health care providers, to the medically underserved in South Metro Denver. Six major inpatient medical centers and their physicians, outpatient laboratory facilities, pharmacies and a residency program provide primary and specialty services at significantly reduced fees through Doctors Care.

The organization provides health care services to a population that couldn’t otherwise afford it in two distinct ways:

1. Adults over 30 years old are assigned to see a physician who has agreed to volunteer his or her medical expertise. More than 1,000 providers have told Doctors Care how many patients they are willing to see during the year.
2. The Doctors Care Clinic operates five days a week, providing nearly 8,000 patient visits a year to children and young adults up to age 30 who need to be seen onsite by a physician assistant or volunteer physician.

Who is it for?

Low-income, underserved residents of South Metro Denver.

Impact

Since its founding in 1988, Doctors Care has served more than 24,000 low-income residents of South Metro Denver and provided more than $90 million in medical services to individuals who often have had nowhere else to turn for medical help. The time and services contributed by volunteer medical staff paired with in-kind donations of supplies and equipment allow Doctors Care to leverage $10 worth of services for every $1 raised. Patients shared more than $14 million in donated care from hospitals, labs, pharmacies and specialty physicians in 2012. Foundations, hospitals, city governments and individual donors also provide significant funding. The collaboration between board, staff, physicians, hospitals, labs, donors, volunteers and community programs has proved to be an effective method of increasing access to professional, affordable health care.

After 25 years of service, Doctors Care has become a model for community-based safety net organizations whose missions are to provide access to health are for low income, uninsured and underinsured individuals. To celebrate 25 years of achievement, and because it is the right thing to do, Doctors Care is sharing the story of its model, complete with best practices and sample documentation, in a free handbook and responsive web based guide, “Maximizing Health Care for Colorado’s Underserved” – An Operational Handbook and Responsive Web Resource at www.maximizinghealthcare.org. The sample documents include MOUs, patient applications, physician recruitment handouts, data collection charts, and much more. No-cost downloadable attachments provide users with more immediate access to resources, and help keep information relevant. It is our hope that providing this resource to the community, at no charge, will serve as a welcome response to the needs of advancing health care delivery to the uninsured and underinsured.

Contact: Barb Hanson
Director of Marketing and Development
Telephone: 720-458-6173
E-mail: bhanson@DoctorsCare.org