Representative Meghan Lukens from Steamboat Springs has recently introduced two bipartisan bills aimed at enhancing health care services in rural Colorado. These bills, co-sponsored by Rep. Marc Caitlin and Rep. Anthony Hartsook, seek to allocate funding towards training, recruiting, and expanding Colorado’s health care workforce, particularly in rural areas.
One of the bills, SB24-221, focuses on expanding the Colorado Rural Health Care Workforce Initiative to attract more health care professionals to rural areas. The bill allocates over $1.7 million to rural hospitals and higher education institutions to establish or expand rural health care track programs. Another bill, SB24-055, aims to provide better access to behavioral health care in rural Colorado through the Agricultural and Rural Community Behavioral Health program.
This program will collaborate with the Colorado Department of Agriculture and health care providers to connect farmers, ranchers, and their families with behavioral health services. Additionally, SB24-055 will create a working group within the Department of Agriculture to centralize grant programs focused on addressing the root causes of behavioral health issues in rural and agricultural communities.
Notably, farmers, ranchers, and individuals in the agriculture industry rank fourth in the state for the highest suicide rates. The bill seeks to address this issue by tailoring behavioral health care resources specifically for farmers and ranchers. Overall, these bills aim to improve health care services and support for rural communities in Colorado.