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Public health reports year-end activity, rising respiratory illnesses and plans for an access-and-functional-needs registry
Summary
Public health staff reviewed 2024 inspections, immunizations and outreach, reported increased respiratory and GI illness post-holidays, described a forthcoming access-and-functional-needs registry and said the department is pursuing data modernization and potential reimbursement for community health worker services.
Chaffee County public health staff presented a year-in-review covering environmental health inspections, immunizations, community navigation and emergency-preparedness plans, and said the department will develop an access-and-functional-needs registry and pursue data modernization and potential billing for some community-health services.
Public health staff reported 251 environmental health inspections in 2024 and said immunization and outreach activity rose in the year. Staff described a post-holiday increase in respiratory illnesses and gastrointestinal complaints; they noted that while demand for respiratory tests has risen, confirming some diagnoses (for example norovirus) requires lab samples that may be difficult for sick residents to provide.
On emergency preparedness, staff said the department will move forward in 2025 with an access-and-functional-needs registry to identify residents who rely on durable medical equipment and could be at risk during outages. The department is also exploring grant funding for battery backup assistance for those devices.
The health department highlighted oral-health navigation that connected dozens of residents to dental care and said staff are pursuing a data-modernization project to move programs toward electronic records. Staff said a favorable change at the federal level — the HCPCS listing of an umbrella for community health worker services — opens a possible future reimbursement stream for services such as health navigation and lactation consulting, though staff cautioned that reimbursement depends on EHR capability and productivity thresholds.
Public health staff also briefed commissioners on aging-well programs, a new behavioral health coordinator navigator hire, and convening a behavioral-health coalition expected to draw a large turnout. Staff said they will continue to brief commissioners and to invite new commissioners to the health-navigation meetings and coalition work.
