In many parts of rural Colorado, getting to a healthcare specialist involves taking time off work, arranging transportation, and driving hours just to be seen. For patients in northeast and southeast Colorado, that kind of access hasn’t always been realistic — until now.
At CommonSpirit Health, access to cutting-edge healthcare and specialists is becoming a reality for many rural Colorado communities, where CommonSpirit’s partnerships with independent local hospitals is helping expand healthcare offerings.
“At the core of our approach is helping local hospitals thrive by finding win-win partnerships,” said Pete Powers, CommonSpirit market president for Greater Colorado and Kansas. “We are not simply looking to purchase these facilities — we seek to find win-wins with the local communities and partner with them, versus acquire or siphon patients away.”
Care Comes to the Community
Instead of expecting patients to travel long distances, CommonSpirit specialists are making the trip to rural hospitals.
“Specialists in areas like cardiology, oncology, orthopedics, and general surgery rotate through rural facilities,” said Sarah Kay, region director of Rural Health and Outreach for CommonSpirit Mountain Region. “This allows patients to receive complex consultations and certain procedures locally, significantly reducing the burden of long-distance travel.”
That shift can make a real difference, especially for people managing ongoing conditions like diabetes or heart disease, or juggling work and family responsibilities. Rotating specialists are also important for rural hospitals, which benefit from keeping care local and being able to utilize their own imaging and lab facilities.
Even with a schedule of traveling physicians, there are still moments when a CommonSpirit specialist can’t attend an appointment in person. That’s where telehealth steps in.
“There is a significant physician shortage of many specialties across the country and often, the shortages are just as bad in urban areas as they are in rural areas,” Powers said. “By eliminating physician and patient travel time, physicians can see more patients remotely via telehealth.”
For patients, that might mean video follow-up appointments or quicker access to a provider when something feels off. It also allows physicians to see more patients without spending hours on the road.
Cancer Treatment is Happening Closer to Home
For patients going through cancer treatment, travel is more than an inconvenience — it can become a major barrier to care. At rural hospitals, CommonSpirit’s support helps those patients receive chemotherapy and imaging services locally rather than traveling for regular treatments.
CommonSpirit oncologists in Denver or Colorado Springs work with providers at rural hospitals, providing training, support, and remote supervision so rural providers can deliver chemotherapy treatment onsite.
The partnership allows CommonSpirit teams at the health system’s larger hospitals, like St. Anthony North, to oversee education and certification for local, rural hospital teams, ultimately delivering patients “big-city expertise with small-town compassion,” Kay said.
“Rather than just ‘flying in’ help, this model focuses on certifying local oncology nurses and staff,” Kay said. “This builds a permanent, high-skill clinical base in communities that are traditionally underserved, ensuring that the expertise stays in the region long term.”
For cancer patients and families, the benefits of local treatments go beyond convenience.
“Allowing patients to receive treatment where they can sleep in their own beds and remain close to family and friends provides a measurable boost to their mental health and resilience,” Kay said.
Keeping Care Local Helps Hospitals Stay Open
When patients leave their community for care, rural hospitals lose more than just visits — they lose the revenue tied to those services.
Services like lab work, imaging, and follow-up care add up for rural hospitals, which often operate on thin margins. Keeping those services in the community means that local money and jobs can stay local.
"This ensures the hospital remains a primary economic engine and a stable source of jobs for the neighbors who depend on them,” Kay said. “In many rural areas, the hospital is the largest employer. For a rural hospital, financial sustainability isn’t just about the bottom line — it’s about the survival of the community.”
When larger healthcare systems come to town, one of the biggest concerns for rural hospitals is losing control and autonomy. That’s not the goal of CommonSpirit’s outreach, Powers said.
“We want to keep care local and allow these facilities to remain independent and serve their local communities,” he said.
CommonSpirit’s rural hospital support resources can look different depending on the hospital. A hospital might receive help recruiting physicians, setting up specialty clinics, or improving IT systems, all of which becomes easier with access to CommonSpirit’s supply chain and advanced Electronic Medical Record systems.
While CommonSpirit’s partnership program provides significant benefit to the communities involved, there are still challenges. It’s not always simple to find physicians with the bandwidth to travel to rural communities, but those who are able to participate find the work more than worthwhile.
“Thankfully, the vast majority find this outreach to be one of the best and most fulfilling parts of their job,” Powers said. “It really brings many back to why they got into medicine in the first place.”
For CommonSpirit, that impact reinforces its commitment to keeping care local. And as the healthcare landscape continues to shift, Powers and Kay see partnerships like this becoming more common.
“I believe these types of partnerships will continue to expand,” Powers said.
