Colorado’s Regional Health Connector Program

Regional Health Connectors improve how health systems work together so that every region across Colorado has the relationships and resources to meet the health needs of their community.

Building a More Connected Health System Across Colorado

Healthcare and service providers are increasingly looking outside their clinics to improve the health of their patients’ communities.

Regional Health Connectors (RHCs) are a skilled workforce that connect clinics, public health agencies, and community organizations to strengthen the systems that support health in Colorado. RHCs are based within Colorado’s 21 Health Statistics Regions and serve the communities where they live and work. Their local knowledge and relationships help them connect organizations with the partners and resources that can support health across their region.

Meet Your Local RHC

How Can an RHC Support Your Work?

If you work in a clinical, public health, or community setting, your local RHC can help you connect with organizations and resources working toward similar goals.

RHC work with partners across their region to:

  • Identify and address unmet health needs in their region.

  • Strengthen collaboration between the systems and organizations that support health.

  • Connect practices with existing community resources that can help advance the goals they have already set.

  • Support practice transformation to help clinics, hospitals, and community health centers provide care centered on patients’ needs.

Local Connections for Regional Health

Each RHC works within one of Colorado’s 21 Health Statistics Regions, covering multiple counties. This regional perspective helps RHCs identify health trends and needs that cross organizational or county boundaries.

Rather than working directly with individual community members, RHCs bring together partners from different fields to coordinate programs and initiatives that address local gaps. These connections can help build stronger regional networks for improving community health.

A diverse group of health care professionals gather in a clinical setting

Supporting Health Care Practices

RHCs support practice transformation across Colorado, helping health care practices improve quality of care and adapt to new payment models.

A diverse group of health care professionals gather in a clinical setting

Supporting Systems Change

Health doesn’t begin or end in a clinic. Strong relationships among health care, public health, and community organizations can help communities make better use of the resources already available to them. RHCs help build these clinic-community connections by bringing partners together around regional health needs, resources, and opportunities.

(L-R) RHCs Megan Wise, Angela Rodriguez, Jamie Fanselow, and Kayana Casias look at computer

See Colorado’s Region Health Connectors in Action

Every community has its own strengths and health priorities. Explore stories of how RHCs and local partners are building on those strengths, from revitalizing Indigenous food traditions to reducing substance use stigma and centering culture as prevention.

(L-R) RHCs Megan Wise, Angela Rodriguez, Jamie Fanselow, and Kayana Casias look at computer

The Beliefs That Guide Our Work

Health starts in the neighborhoods where we live, learn, work, pray, and play; and sustainable solutions must honor local diversity and assets. Our solutions are as unique as the things we face.

Connected, comprehensive care reduces duplication of efforts and efficiently elevates available resources to support the health of all people living in Colorado.

Approaching complex health challenges with curiosity will lead to innovation and improve the future of health and health care in our communities.

Primary care teams have a unique relationship with patients, equipping them to identify needs and provide referrals to supportive resources.

Many social and economic barriers to health (like access to transportation, education, housing, livable wage, etc.) combined with systemic and structural barriers (like historical trauma and racism), influence our health outside of a doctor’s office. We seek to build equity in access to opportunities and that promote health.

Local data, including stories of lived/living experience, paired with evidence-based studies can help us achieve better community health outcomes by amplifying assets and expertise drawn from our own experiences.

The Partners Behind the Program

The RHC Program brings together several partners with distinct roles.

Trailhead Institute

  • Trailhead serves as the program office and supports RHCs through learning communities, ongoing technical assistance, community engagement, and contract management.

Local Host Organizations

  • Local health departments, area health education centers, health alliances, and health networks serve as local host organizations across the state.

  • These organizations employ RHCs to support the health priorities of their community.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

  • The Prevention Services Division at CDPHE serves as contract monitor, administers funding, and promotes alignment with state and local programs, partners, and priorities.

University of Colorado Anschutz 

  • The Practice Innovation Program at CU Anschutz oversees program evaluation.

  • Their team collects and analyzes monthly field notes, conducts interviews with RHCs, and monitors outcome data.

Learn More and Connect

Interested in learning more about the program? Find your local Regional Health Connector or reach out to the program office to learn how we can work together.