How The Stars Aligned To Make Grand Junction A Success

Abstract

WHO AND WHERE Physicians, hospitals, and other care providers in Grand Junction and surrounding rural Mesa County, population: about 146,000. INDICATORS OF SUCCESS When health care costs for Medicare patients during their last two years of life are compared for U.S. localities, the Grand Junction Hospital Referral Region is the only one that has ranked among the five lowest-cost regions ever since the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care began compiling such data in the early 1990s. WHAT’S WORKING Excellent communication among providers, a culture of collaboration, the nonprofit status of local care-providing institutions, as well as the participation of doctors in helping set policies. Mesa County Physicians Independent Practice Association (IPA) makes comparative performance and cost data on individual doctors available to all association members. Rocky Mountain Health Plans, a health maintenance organization (HMO), subsidizes primary care and equalizes physician payments for the care of patients with different levels of insurance. CHALLENGES Replicating Grand Junction’s success elsewhere, as desirable as that may be. Given the area’s size and relative isolation, doctors and health care administrators know one another and share a sense of responsibility for the well-being of area residents.