Committee approves three‑year extension for rural health connectivity; officials say 127 providers are onboarded

Stephanie Pugliese, director of the Office of eHealth Innovation (OHI), and Kim Bimstuffer, executive director of the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF), told the Joint Technology Committee that the state’s rural connectivity work has onboarded 127 rural organizations to the statewide health information exchange and analytics platform and that capital funds for the project will expire June 30 (year not specified) unless the committee approves an extension.

Pugliese said OHI and HCPF have partnered with three primary organizations to support the work: Contexture (the statewide health information exchange), the Colorado Community Managed Care Network (CCMCN) for community analytics, and the Colorado Rural Health Center for technical assistance (named in the presentation as the partner providing technical help to rural providers). The project also developed a Community Analytics Platform (CAP) that currently includes 13 reports and new reports requested by rural providers, such as an obstetric‑desert report, a shared‑populations report and an out‑migration overview for patient movements and cost and procedure information.

To help sustain participation, OHI has implemented rural sustainability payments that provide an annual $100,000 payment to critical access hospitals and $20,000 to certified rural health clinics contingent on continued participation in the rural connectivity program. Pugliese said 100% of the identified critical access hospitals and rural health clinics in Colorado are now connected; about 40 independent providers remain to be onboarded.

The office said it is negotiating a contract to standardize the state’s provider data‑mapping requests and plans to issue a request for applications to support rural network cybersecurity. Director Bimstuffer and Pugliese told the committee that the initiative has pulled down a larger than expected federal match so far and that the state capital funds remaining would be used to continue drawing federal matching dollars as remaining providers come online.

Senator Bazely expressed concern about state access to personal health information; Director Bimstuffer responded that federal guidelines and privacy protections limit access and that the state does not have blanket access to diagnoses or other personal health data beyond appropriate care management or emergency uses. Senator Marchman asked whether the three‑year extension might be shortened; Pugliese said the remaining providers are the hardest to connect and many still use paper records, which requires more technical assistance. Senator Marchman moved to recommend funding the HCPF supplemental budget request for the rural connectivity program; the motion passed unanimously on roll call.