Rural Healthcare

     What is one of the biggest employers and most vital parts of any rural community? Healthcare. Pure and simple. Without adequate healthcare facilities, not only does the rural economy suffer, but the very lives of the people are at risk. Unfortunately, it’s becoming more difficult to find and keep quality providers in our rural clinics and hospitals. There just aren’t any incentives for them. Because of the economy of scale, small health care facilities are at a disadvantage. How can we help? We should ensure that the reimbursement rates for small rural hospitals are higher. And what about some kind of an incentive for urban hospitals to partner with rural facilities? They could rotate physicians and provide support in various other ways to help insure quality care in rural Colorado. We need to provide ways for our people to get healthcare in their home communities instead of having to go to a city, where they always incur more expense. Hospitals are vital to our communities in HD 65! If a rural hospital is forced to close, the entire community suffers:  the population decreases because people have to move to find new employment, and for those who stay, the standard of living drops because the property values decrease significantly.