Denver Health is the largest vertically integrated community health center system funded by the Bureau of Primary Health Care (Section 330) in the United States This system comprises: 8 federally qualified community health centers in low-income neighborhoods, Denver Health Medical Center, Denver Health emergency department, 12 school based clinics and the Public Health Department, all of which are located in Denver, Colorado. This agency is mandated to deliver inpatient, emergency, and primary care to disadvantaged residents of Denver. Thirty-five percent of Denver's children under 18 years old are seen in the Denver Health system. In 2007, Denver Health delivered over 371,000 visits to over 103,000 unique patients. Forty-one percent of these patients were younger than 15 years of age. A total of 42,500 children, younger than 15 years of age, were patients at Denver Health in 2007, and one-third of these children were younger than than 3 years old.
Denver Health consists of 8 federally qualified health centers which serve our pediatric population, and which are located in the neighborhoods with the lowest socioeconomic indices in the city. In addition, the children in these neighborhoods have disproportionally high rates of dental caries.
They include:
Our health care system is one of the three main teaching facilities for the Pediatric Residency training programs at The Children's Hospital and has its own Denver Health Family Practice Residency training program. For instance, more than 30% of the pediatric residents have their continuity clinic at a Denver Health clinic. Additionally, it is a major site for medical students to rotate through during most of clinical rotations including their pediatric and family medicine rotations.
