Colorado Access came to JVA when it wanted to gain a better understanding of how to motivate parents to take more advantage of their Primary Care Medical Providers instead of emergency rooms or urgent care facilities.

Colorado Access is a Regional Care Collaborative Organization (RCCO), providing care management resources and support to Medicaid recipients and enabling them to take advantage of coordinated care and a more systemic approach to healthcare by treating not only symptoms but also root causes.

The organization’s goal is not just to provide people with better care, but to also save taxpayers money by reducing emergency department visits and hospital stays.

We reviewed RCCOs’ existing messaging and value propositions and convened 10 focus groups across Weld, Adams, Arapahoe, Denver, and Douglas counties.

The primary questions researched were:

How do members make their overall health care decisions?

What influences members’ decisions on whether or not to visit the emergency room?

Are members aware of their access to care managers?

What can Colorado Access do to help members access preventative care?

What does meaningful engagement look like to Colorado Access members?

As a result of this process, we were able to develop and continually hone–from one focus group to the next–messaging that was received positively by participants and would make them likely to utilize the program to a greater extent.

The research found that a large indicator of members visiting their Primary Care Medical Provider (PCMP) more often was their personal relationship with their PCMP or their medical facility. When PCMPs made them feel comfortable and empowered to make their own decisions, focus group participants were more likely to talk about how they could go to their PCMP for any issue.

“We are looking forward to diving into the report so that we can plan our next steps. It was a pleasure to work with you,” said Eric Bretillo, director of marketing and creative at Colorado Access.

Colorado Access chose JVA because of our quarter century of experience working with healthcare clients. Moreover, Colorado Access saw us as the only firm in Colorado that combined that healthcare experience with expertise in community assessment and engagement. Our successful track record of recruiting participants for focus groups all over the state gave Colorado Access a great degree of confidence in JVA.

“At JVA, we care about the quality of healthcare available in the state. We want to see as many people as possible have access to convenient and high-quality care,” says Laura Morales, JVA’s managing associate for research and evaluation.

“When we are able to work with a client who shares those goals and do work that helps the client better understand its community and how to communicate with it, that is very satisfying for us.”