Denver Health Expands Behavioral Health Access Statewide

Denver Health has expanded its behavioral health services statewide through a new telehealth partnership with regional clinics, aiming to address persistent gaps in mental health care access, particularly in rural parts of Colorado where behavioral health providers remain scarce.

Behavioral health services director Marcus Feldman says the expansion responds to years of data showing rural Colorado residents facing significantly longer wait times for mental health appointments compared to Denver metro residents, when they can access care at all. "Some patients were driving hours for a single appointment," Feldman said. "Telehealth doesn't solve every access problem, but it solves a lot of the geographic ones."

Building a Telehealth Network From Existing Infrastructure

Rather than building an entirely new telehealth platform, Denver Health partnered with existing rural clinics that already had basic telehealth infrastructure in place from prior initiatives, focusing resources on behavioral health-specific training and provider scheduling rather than rebuilding technical infrastructure from scratch. This approach allowed the expansion to move more quickly than a fully independent platform build would have permitted.

The partnership includes provisions for same-day crisis consultation availability, addressing a particular gap partner clinics identified where patients experiencing acute mental health crises previously had limited immediate options beyond emergency room visits. Feldman says early utilization data shows steady demand for both routine ongoing therapy appointments and the crisis consultation service.

Addressing Persistent Rural Behavioral Health Shortages

State health officials have long identified behavioral health provider shortages in rural Colorado as a significant public health concern, with many rural counties having few or no local psychiatrists or licensed therapists. Denver Health officials say the telehealth expansion won't fully solve this shortage, since some conditions still require in-person care unavailable locally, but they view it as a meaningful step toward improving access for the significant share of behavioral health needs that telehealth can adequately address.

Denver Health says it's evaluating additional rural clinic partnerships based on the initial expansion's reception, with plans to expand the program further if early utilization and outcome data support continued investment.