HPCHC Appoints Dr. Claire Reed as New CMO
Barbara Crimond | Jul 03, 2023 | Comments 0

Dr. Claire Reed
LAMAR, CO, June 21, 2023 — High Plains Community Health Center (High Plains) has announced the appointment of Dr. Claire Harrison Reed, MD, as the organization’s new Chief Medical Officer (CMO). Dr. Reed succeeds Dr. Barbara Taylor, MD, who has served as Interim CMO since October 2022. Dr. Reed begins her new appointment with High Plains on Monday, August 7, 2023.
As Chief Medical Officer of Pueblo Community Health Center in Pueblo, CO, where she has served as CMO since 2018, Dr. Reed grew and stabilized that organization’s staff of physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners, while increasing access to healthcare among the region’s underserved patient communities. “My focus [in Lamar],” offers Dr. Reed, “will be to build on the great work already done at High Plains in chronic- and acute-care services and lead the charge in growing the ranks of resident medical and behavioral health providers.”
In Pueblo, Dr. Reed also oversaw further growth of the center’s integrated behavioral health services, a program launched, as well, at High Plains in 2022. “A great number of primary care visits are actually triggered by a patient’s psychological problems,” says Dr. Reed. “Integrated care improves outcomes. Patients who receive a referral from a primary care provider to a mental health provider have a greater likelihood of following up on that referral if it’s co-located.”
Dr. Reed brings to High Plains more than 30 years of clinical and 15 years of healthcare leadership experience with
nonprofit community health centers across the United States, including chief medical officer appointments at Mid State Health Center in Plymouth, NH, Bridge Community Health Clinic in Wausau, WI, the Community HealthCare System in Onaga, KS, and most recently Pueblo Community Health Center.
As a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), the mission and design of High Plains Community Health Center is to serve those who have limited access to healthcare, although all are welcome. High Plains offers medical, dental, and
behavioral health services at sites in Lamar and Holly, CO, to patients from all over Southeastern Colorado, including
Prowers, Baca, Bent and Kiowa Counties. High Plains operates under a consumer Board of Directors governing structure and provides services to all individuals, regardless of their ability to pay, offering a Sliding Fee Discount Scale based on patient income and family size.
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