Colorado Mountain Medical relocates several specialty clinics to Avon
Dermatology, endocrinology, ophthalmology and urology have a new home on the third floor of the Buck Creek Medical Plaza
Vail Health/Courtesy Photo
On Monday, Feb. 13, a number of Colorado Mountain Medical specialty care clinics opened at their new locations in the Buck Creek Medical Plaza. Now, the medical provider’s dermatology, endocrinology, ophthalmology and urology clinics are all located on the building’s third floor.
“Our focus on this was to create a different experience for our patients,” said David Kaplan, president of Colorado Mountain Medical. “We really hope it feels different and provides a great experience for our staff, our patients and our providers.”
The relocation of these clinics to the Buck Creek center in Avon has several benefits, Kaplan added.
First, it adds a level of convenience by centralizing Colorado Mountain Medical’s services in one location, where it already has an urgent care as well as other primary and specialty care providers. This, Kaplan said, is also beneficial given the national and local health care staffing challenges over the past few years.
“We’ve really struggled with staffing and we had to implement a lot of new strategies to make up for that,” he said, adding that facing challenges with having staff to answer phones over the last year, Colorado Mountain Medical has created a remote employee group to help.
Support Local Journalism
“By bringing all the specialties up to one space, we really hope to solve that problem a little bit more. Having one front desk for all these specialties, one process that’s somewhat standardized, having all of the teams in one centralized location will really help us expand and have economies of scale.”
Vail Health/Courtesy Photo
Additionally, relocating these specialty centers created opportunities to improve the overall patient experience.
“Depending on the specialty you’re seeing, there’s a different level of angst that comes along with that and how do we put some of that to rest? That was the goal and I think we were incredibly successful,” he said.
When the clinics moved to their new homes, Colorado Mountain Medical was able to design the space specifically to serve each of the specialties, including being able to introduce some new technologies and equipment.
For endocrinology, this included a new imaging program and equipment (thanks to a donation from the Precourt family) as well as a room specifically designated for diabetes education. For dermatology, it was able to get a new laser for new types of treatment as well as create a “higher-end environment” with things like a massage chair for some of its “cash-pay” services. And for urology, Kaplan said the providers can now do procedures in the room that they weren’t able to do before.
With this, the goal is to create a “more unique experience for a lot of our specialties,” Kaplan said.
And, as Colorado Mountain Medical looks ahead, the new space opens up an opportunity for the health care company to hire more providers in areas of need.
“As we continue to expand our footprint in CMM and Vail Health, we’re always thinking about, well where are we headed? And how do we ensure that we’re meeting the needs of our community?” Kaplan said.
This includes adding primary care doctors — as numerous physicians have recently retired or left for opportunities outside of the valley — as well as expanding into high-demand specialties.
“We’re seeing a higher demand for our endocrinology services, urology services and dermatology. So how do we ensure that we’re getting the right providers for what the community needs? This new space will really allow us to do that,” Kaplan said.
New patient solutions
“Really trying to take care of the patient in the best location is key,” Kaplan said.
As Colorado Mountain Medical moves ahead, centralizing its services in Avon is only one example of this. It also includes a number of technological solutions, geared toward streamlining service and meeting patients where they’re at.
This includes continuing access to its telehealth services, but also new options for receiving medical advice as well as scheduling appointments.
The aforementioned remote employee team is being used to not only help Colorado Mountain Medical alleviate some of the administrative pressure of its local team, but also to provide a new level of service to patients with a new hotline to reach nurses, which launched a few months ago.
“We didn’t have clinical experts picking up the phone when you called in before,” Kaplan said. “If you’re talking to someone who doesn’t have a lot of health care experience but is trained in scheduling and you’re trying to figure out if you need to see a clinical provider or not, it doesn’t help much.”
Now, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., patients can call the hotline and get advice from three full-time registered nurses (many of whom are located remotely in Denver). The nurses can answer questions; help patients determine if, when, and where to get care; initiate previously prescribed medications; connect with schedulers for non-urgent care, assist in booking urgent appointments and more.
Additionally, after rolling out online scheduling for its existing patients for primary and urgent care services, Colorado Mountain Medical is also looking to extend this scheduling to OB-GYN services as well. The hope is it will alleviate the need for patients to call, Kaplan said.
“We see thousands of phone calls a day,” he said. “Being able to have that ability to schedule Saturdays, Sundays — at your convenience as a patient — is really going to be huge.”
The Colorado Mountain Medical Nurse Line can be reached at 970-363-5429, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For routine appointment scheduling, do not call the nurse line, but rather call 970-926-6340. For medical emergencies, call 911.
