Carson City Network For Health
In May 2003, the Nevada Public Health Foundation received a three-year Rural Health Network Development Grant from
the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and Office of Rural Health Policy. The grant project will produce two products:
1. A customer-oriented “no wrong door” entry and referral procedures which will simplify client navigation of the Carson City Health Services System, improve coordination among agencies, and improve access to services, especially for underserved populations.
2. A strategic plan for continuous maintenance and improvement of the Network that will provide Carson City with a systematic approach to improve/increase access to health care.
The Carson City Health Service System includes a wide variety of health care and public health service providers. These services are fragmented and lack coordination among agencies providing similar or complementary services. In addition, services are insufficient or needed, but not provided. Several organizations share common problems, but have no structure for working together to achieve common solutions. This results in unnecessary complexity for providers and users, many of whom require services from multiple agencies.
Network staff are identifying all points of access for health care services in the Carson City area, focusing on the underserved population. From survey and focus groups, input will be obtained from consumers and providers of these services. Network staff will propose access improvement options to the Network Governing Board by using the collected data from providers and surveys/focus groups.