Clinica Family Health and Mental Health Partners have announced plans to merge operations by September of this year.

Mental Health Partners co-CEO Dixie Casford said the move will create an integrated care model that can better meet the needs of historically under-resourced populations.

Patients will no longer have to navigate complex referrals, hunt for new providers, or explain their medical history over and over.

"Whether it's oral care, and mental health care," said Casford. "Whatever combination that looks like, you come in, there's no wrong door. They can come into that system and get what they need."

The new Clinica Family Health and Wellness will offer physical, behavioral, and oral healthcare to all patients regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay from locations across Adams, Boulder, Broomfield, and Gilpin counties.

Casford said the new, larger organization will also benefit workers by providing a host of new opportunities across areas of specialization.

She said the aim is to magnify the talents and skills of the compassionate, expert staff across both organizations.

"There's going to be different positions that don't exist now across both organizations," said Casford. "And so there's going to be multiple layers of professional development, and career advancement opportunities that just don't exist in the singular organizations."

Casford said the merger is also an opportunity for new innovations. Teams of providers will be able to work collaboratively to see the full picture of an individual's physical, mental, and social needs.

She said this whole-person model can better identify and manage problems before they develop into crises. And with this merger, the new operation will be better set up to deliver a lifetime of care.

"And we really believe what that will do is move people from more acute situations farther upstream in the health care system to more prevention and wellness eventually."




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A critical shortage of direct care workers in Maine is leaving residents without needed health services, according to a new report.

It showed more than 23,000 hours of approved home care for older adults go undelivered each week, while waitlists for behavioral health care have grown into the thousands.

Arthur Phillips, analyst at the Maine Center for Economic Policy, said low pay and poor benefits make it tough to retain enough workers to meet demand.

"Even if you feel really dedicated to the work that you do and the people who you serve, if it's having negative impacts on your own life, then you're faced with a tough choice," Phillips pointed out. "I think a lot of people are leaving."

It is estimated the state needs to hire more than 2,300 direct-care workers just to meet existing needs. Phillips argued the state should raise its median wage for workers to at least 140% of the minimum wage to remain competitive or just under $20 an hour.

Maine already has the oldest population in the U.S. and the share of people age 65 or older is projected to grow to nearly 30% by 2050. AARP Maine estimates more than 160,000 unpaid caregivers, including family and friends, are currently filling the state's health care gap for the age group.

Phillips noted it can lead to greater stress on everyone and a loss of economic activity for the state.

"While we think that this will require significant resources and that this group of workers should be prioritized, I think it's also true that the costs of inaction are far greater," Phillips emphasized.

Phillips added the legislature raised the reimbursement rate for direct care workers in 2021, allocating some $120 million for recruitment and longevity bonuses, and needs to take action again. He recommended the state improve its data systems to get a clearer picture of Maine's health care needs, including both direct care workers and those they serve in the process of policy changes to ensure all needs are met.

West Virginia healthcare advocates are applauding a recent proposed rule by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to remove medical bills from credit reports.

As of last summer, about 5% of Americans had unpaid medical bills on their credit reports.

Healthcare Organizer with West Virginia Citizen Action Group Mindy Salango said more West Virginians are being forced to find ways to pay out of pocket, relying on credit cards and crowdfunding websites.

She added patients often receive unexpected medical bills and struggle to understand costs, making it difficult to compare medical debt to other loans.

"When you're going for an emergency surgery, they don't give you an outline of all the charges that you're going to be hit with," said Salango. "They do the surgery, and then you get the bill. If you go in to buy a car, they give you paperwork; you know exactly what you're signing on the dotted line for."

The proposed rule would close a regulatory loophole that has kept vast amounts of medical debt information in the credit reporting system, and would help prevent debt collectors from coercing payments for inaccurate or false medical bills, according to the Bureau.

Medical debt can lead to missed rent or mortgage payments, denied rental applications, and eviction. One study found 27% of Americans with medical debt have experienced housing-related problems.

Salango said erasing medical debt from credit reports will help more West Virginians stay in their homes.

"If you take these this off of a credit report," said Salango, "it's going to allow people to move into more stable situations."

She added there's been a significant spike in health insurance companies denying coverage, leaving consumers saddled with hefty bills.

"We're really fighting both federally and at a state level to stop these insurance companies from using predatory denials," said Salango. "Many of them are currently using AI to do initial denials."

West Virginia Citizen Action Group is hosting a town hall on June 25 in Huntington to help empower residents to dispute denials and understand how changes to Medicaid may affect their coverage.

More information about the event is online at wvcag.org.

Nevada's marketplace insurance program wants people who no longer qualify for Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program to know it has extended its special enrollment period through the end of November.

Russell Cook, executive director of the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange, encouraged individuals who lost coverage due to Medicaid's redetermination process to check to see if they are eligible to enroll through Nevada Health Link. He said it takes minutes to find out what type of financial assistance Nevadans could qualify for to lower their monthly premium.

"We do want to emphasize that at a high level, if anyone in your household has lost Medicaid or CHIP coverage starting in May of 2023, you are still eligible to enroll through NevadaHealthLink.com," Cook pointed out.

Since Nevada Medicaid began redetermining eligibility in April of last year, only about 4% of Nevadans who were deemed ineligible for Medicaid benefits have enrolled in a plan through Nevada Health Link. Cook explained the two main reasons people lost coverage during the unwinding process were because of procedural reasons, meaning Medicaid needed updated information to determine eligibility, or because of an increase in income.

In addition to the extension of its special enrollment period, Nevada Health Link has also launched an SMS texting initiative created to raise awareness and engage Nevadans who no longer qualify for Medicaid or CHIP. Cook described it as a direct-to-consumer approach to simplify the process of selecting affordable health insurance.

"At least through the end of September, probably the end of the year, we are going to be reaching out to these folks who have lost Medicaid coverage, again all the way back as far as May of last year," Cook emphasized. "So it really helps us reach those folks, if we have an SMS-enabled phone on file, which of course we receive from Nevada Medicaid."

Cook added it is important everyone have health insurance and receive preventive care, especially children. He warned some health conditions can quickly turn into complicated situations if not taken care of.


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