Children's Hospital Colorado Opens Regional Outpatient Center

Children's Hospital Colorado has opened a new regional outpatient center, expanding access to pediatric specialty care for families outside the Denver metro area who previously faced significant travel burdens to access specialized pediatric services concentrated at the hospital's main campus.

Regional services director Paulina Marsh says the new center brings pediatric specialists to the region on a rotating schedule, allowing families to access specialty consultations without the multi-hour drive to Denver that was previously required for many pediatric subspecialty needs. "Pediatric subspecialists are concentrated in a handful of major metro areas nationally," Marsh said. "That's a real burden for families outside those areas, especially with a sick child."

Bringing Specialists to Patients Rather Than the Reverse

Rather than relocating specialists permanently, the new center operates on a rotating specialist schedule, with different pediatric subspecialists holding regular clinic days at the regional location throughout the month. This model allows the hospital to offer access to a broader range of subspecialties than would be feasible if each required a full-time locally based specialist, given the smaller regional patient population compared to the Denver metro area.

The center also includes telehealth consultation rooms, allowing for follow-up appointments with Denver-based specialists via video for patients whose ongoing care doesn't require an in-person visit, further reducing travel burden for families managing chronic pediatric conditions requiring regular specialist follow-up.

Addressing Regional Pediatric Care Access Gaps

Rural and regional families have historically faced significant access barriers to pediatric subspecialty care, a gap hospital officials say has been a long-standing concern given the concentration of pediatric subspecialists in major metro areas nationally, not just in Colorado specifically. Hospital officials describe the new center as part of a broader strategy to extend pediatric specialty access beyond the Denver metro area without requiring families to relocate specialists on a permanent basis.

Hospital officials say they're evaluating whether additional regional outpatient centers could be established in other underserved parts of the state, based on patient volume and specific specialty demand data from the initial center's first year of operation.