Colorado Health Leader Honored at National Conference

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News Release: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 26, 2013
Contact: Amy Simmons Farber
(301) 347-0400 or (202) 309-0338

Bethesda, MD_ The National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) has presented Pete Leibig, President and CEO of Clinica Family Health Services in Lafayette, CO, with the 2013 Aaron L. Brown Memorial Public Service Award. The award honors individuals who have made significant contributions in the community health field. It was presented to Mr. Leibig at the 44th annual NACHC Community Health Institute & EXPO (CHI) in Chicago, IL, a national conference attended by nearly 2,000 community health leaders from across the country.

“Pete has devoted a lifetime of work to assure people from all walks of life have access to doctors and needed primary care and preventive health services,” said Gary Wiltz, MD, NACHC’s Board Chair. “He has been at the forefront helping America recognize the value of a strong community-based health system providing accessible and affordable health care. In his outspoken advocacy, Pete has won the support of lawmakers, local officials and civic leaders. Visiting his health center they have come to recognize what a health center like Clinica, brings to a community in health: jobs and cost-savings in health care.”

During the award presentation, Dr. Wiltz noted that under Mr. Leibig’s leadership since 1987, Clinica has grown into a dynamic health care organization. Starting out as a single facility with two medical providers it has expanded to five locations with capacity to care for more than 40,000 patients annually. Mr. Leibig has spent more than 30 years in health care planning and administration, working as a rural health systems planner in Illinois and Colorado, as the administrator of a low-birthweight prevention project with the Colorado Department of Public Health. He is the member of many boards and councils that strive to improve health care delivery, including chairing the Colorado Community Health Network. He received the Community Healthcare Improvement Award from the UCLA Anderson School of Management in 2003.

America’s Health Centers are local, non-profit, community-directed and federally-supported organizations that provide health care to over 22 million people in more than 9,000 locations. One of the bright spots in America’s health care system, health centers have been in existence for nearly 50 years and have compiled a significant record of success by reducing income and ethnic health disparities nationwide, even in the poorest and most challenged communities. Health centers also play a critical role as implementation of health reform moves forward, providing patient-centered medical homes for the newly insured. Health centers also generate $24 billion in annual health system savings by reducing unnecessary hospitalizations and unnecessary visits to the ER.

To find out more about the mission and accomplishments of health centers please visit www.nachc.org. You can also follow the NACHC CHI on Twitter at www.twitter.com/nachc. Look for the conference #NACHCchi hashtag.

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Founded in 1971, the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to enhance and expand access to quality, community-responsive health care for America’s medically underserved and uninsured. NACHC represents the nation’s network of more than 1,250 Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), which serving over 22 million people through over 9,000 located in all of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam. Learn more about NACHC at www.nachc.org.