Rural Collaborative Improves Behavioral Health Care Access, Integration

A health care collaboration in rural Missouri is expanding patient access to primary and behavioral health care services. In Lexington, Mo., as in many rural communities, there are not enough local resources to meet demand for primary care, dental care and psychiatric services. Lafayette Regional Health Center, part of HCA Midwest Health, collaborated with the Health Care Collaborative of Rural Missouri (HCC) and Pathways Community Health to expand services. The three organizations developed a strategy to shift ownership of two LRHC clinics and reopen a shuttered clinic. HCC and the clinics work with the LRHC emergency department to care for patients who frequently use the ED for primary care issues—like diabetes, tooth pain, anxiety and hypertension—and help them find a primary care doctor, dentist or behavioral health professional. To address the demand for behavioral health services, LRHC shares a psychiatrist with HCC. As a result of this collaboration, LRHC has been able to direct its resources to enhance quality and improve population health.

For more information, contact Darrel Box, LRHC CEO, at darrel.box@hcahealthcare.com. Read the complete case study.