National Rural Health Day Spotlight: How Collaboration Is Transforming Care in Rural Colorado
Nov 6, 2025One in five Americans lives in rural areas and faces distinct healthcare challenges, including fewer providers, longer travel distances to care, infrastructure constraints and higher rates of certain health concerns. In Colorado, 47 out of 64 counties are rural or frontier. With a population of more than 700,000, the quality of healthcare in these counties is exacerbated by additional realities like poor internet service and limited access to mental health and addiction treatment.
Drawing attention to these unique healthcare challenges is National Rural Health Day, observed this year on November 20. Celebrating this day helps bring attention to access equity, workforce shortages, infrastructure and policy needs in rural areas. In Colorado, given the large number of rural and frontier communities, such recognition helps boost morale, community connection, and visibility of rural health challenges and solutions.
The Care Collaborative is part of the solution, furthering the goals of National Rural Health Day by building connections across Colorado’s medical community—linking people with knowledge to drive high-quality, timely care where it’s needed most. When expertise travels effectively, no matter what the distance, rural health can thrive, and every eConsult and ECHO session narrows the rural health gap by making expertise accessible.
The Care Collaborative's eConsults program is a vital resource that enhances healthcare access and efficiency for rural and frontier Coloradans. eConsults connect PCPs at 19 clinics to specialists at the CU Anschutz School of Medicine, enabling the submission of eConsults for patients residing in 47 of 49 rural and frontier zip codes. This extensive reach directly addresses the hardships faced in remote areas when seeking specialist care. The eConsults program has saved an estimated 888,000 miles of travel—equivalent to more than 36 trips around the earth.
ECHO Colorado bridges geographic gaps by engaging with participants from all 64 Colorado counties. More than 1,400 healthcare professionals from rural and frontier Colorado have joined an ECHO series, creating a virtual community that leads to a stronger healthcare network and improves lives.
Together, the eConsults and ECHO programs demonstrate the power of collaboration to overcome geographic barriers to care. By connecting clinicians and strengthening local capacity, The Care Collaborative helps ensure that where someone lives doesn’t determine the quality of healthcare they receive. This National Rural Health Day, The Care Collaborative celebrates the innovation, resilience and partnerships that make healthcare more equitable across the state, proving that when knowledge is shared, communities everywhere can thrive.
Drawing attention to these unique healthcare challenges is National Rural Health Day, observed this year on November 20. Celebrating this day helps bring attention to access equity, workforce shortages, infrastructure and policy needs in rural areas. In Colorado, given the large number of rural and frontier communities, such recognition helps boost morale, community connection, and visibility of rural health challenges and solutions.
The Care Collaborative is part of the solution, furthering the goals of National Rural Health Day by building connections across Colorado’s medical community—linking people with knowledge to drive high-quality, timely care where it’s needed most. When expertise travels effectively, no matter what the distance, rural health can thrive, and every eConsult and ECHO session narrows the rural health gap by making expertise accessible.
The Care Collaborative's eConsults program is a vital resource that enhances healthcare access and efficiency for rural and frontier Coloradans. eConsults connect PCPs at 19 clinics to specialists at the CU Anschutz School of Medicine, enabling the submission of eConsults for patients residing in 47 of 49 rural and frontier zip codes. This extensive reach directly addresses the hardships faced in remote areas when seeking specialist care. The eConsults program has saved an estimated 888,000 miles of travel—equivalent to more than 36 trips around the earth.
ECHO Colorado bridges geographic gaps by engaging with participants from all 64 Colorado counties. More than 1,400 healthcare professionals from rural and frontier Colorado have joined an ECHO series, creating a virtual community that leads to a stronger healthcare network and improves lives.
Together, the eConsults and ECHO programs demonstrate the power of collaboration to overcome geographic barriers to care. By connecting clinicians and strengthening local capacity, The Care Collaborative helps ensure that where someone lives doesn’t determine the quality of healthcare they receive. This National Rural Health Day, The Care Collaborative celebrates the innovation, resilience and partnerships that make healthcare more equitable across the state, proving that when knowledge is shared, communities everywhere can thrive.