To help pave the way for low-cost health clinics slated to open in the region, Gov. Bill Owens has requested that the federal government officially designate Montezuma and La Plata counties as medically underserved. The designation is intended to improve access to health care for poorer communities by freeing up federal funds to help attract and subsidize new indigent-care clinics. Owens supports Valley Wide Health Services plan to locate a clinic in Mancos, which should occur within a month, director Marguerite Salazar confirmed last week. Valley Wide operates several clinics in the San Luis Valley that offer affordable preventive and primary care services.
Patients pay on a sliding scale based on their income.
Everyone is seen, and all insurance is accepted, including government-pay programs. Under a plan supported by Owens, Valley Wide would absorb Southwest Pediatrics, a financially strapped clinic in Durango willing to provide primary care to medically underserved populations. Employees of Southwest Pediatrics would become employees of Valley Wide, and a satellite clinic would open in Mancos. The special status gives providers like Valley Wide more opportunity to apply for grants intended to target medically neglected regions. Indicators for the two-county area supporting the designation show that 21 percent of the adult population is uninsured and that a high number of people live under the poverty level.