Colorado now has 21 health providers treating patients regardless of their ability to pay after Denver’s Uptown Community Health Center won designation as a federally qualified health center look-alike organization.

Cherise Callighan, CEO of the Uptown Community Health Center, located at 1375 E 19th Ave. Denver explained that the look-alike designation means Uptown will not receive Health Center Program grant funding. She said all community health centers offer physical, dental, and behavioral health as part of their mission to deliver whole health integrated care.

“You can come in, you can get fluoride for your two-year-old, you can see a psychologist for whatever behavioral health needs you have, and you can see a physician or a nurse practitioner in order to take care of your diabetes,” Callighan outlined. “It’s a one-stop shop.”

Colorado Community Health Centers care for 867,000 patients at more than 250 sites across the state and provide primary care services in underserved areas. Uptown offers family medicine, internal medicine, and OB/GYN services on a sliding fee scale based on a patient’s ability to pay.

Callighan pointed out Uptown can expand access to care for Denver’s most vulnerable residents because they now qualify for cost-based Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement. She added that community health centers help lower overall healthcare costs by ensuring patients receive preventive care and access to medicine.

People who do not have access tend to put off care, get sicker, and often end up in the emergency room.

“Getting them access to education on how to take care of their diabetes, their hypertension, their high cholesterol,” Callighan emphasized. “Doing all that education up front with our providers and our nurses and our social workers decreases the cost of care because it keeps them out of the hospital.”

Callighan added that Uptown aims to continue the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth ministry, which opened its first clinic to care for the poor and vulnerable in the 19th century.

“To be able to provide health care to any person that walks through the doors,” Callighan underscored. “If you needed health care, you got health care. If you could pay something, that was great. If you could pay nothing, that was fine too. And we’re continuing that mission going forward.”

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