By Mountain Family Health Centers
Congratulations to Dr. Anneliese Heckert, DO, for winning the March 2019 Exemplary Award. Dr. Heckert was nominated by Mountain Family Health Centers CEO Ross Brooks.
Dr. Heckert is Basalt Site Medical Director, Director of Integrated Care, including leading MFHC Behavioral Health and Care Coordination Teams, and Team-Based Care Provider Champion. Thank you for your passion for excellent care, Dr. Heckert! Here is an excerpt from the nomination by CEO Ross Brooks.
“… Dr. Heckert is an extraordinary human being who has dedicated her career to serving rural, underserved populations in the community health center setting… Dr. Heckert has led MFHC Basalt’s evolution into an integrated care practice with strong financial sustainability. In summer, she added additional leadership responsibilities as the director of Mountain Family Health Centers’ (MFHC) integrated care services, leading the strategy, culture and personnel for MFHC’s medical, behavioral and care coordination departments. Another initiative Dr. Heckert has led is MFHC’s transition to a team-based model of care, essential to our transition to value-based care. In the words of her colleague, Dr. Matt Percy: ‘Anneliese has done more than any other provider at MFHC to increase adoption of team-based care organization-wide. Since starting as site director in Basalt, she has made great strides there in truly integrating the team of medical and behavioral health and front desk/billing staff. Her model is now held as an example for our other clinics to replicate. Anneliese knows despite being an extremely intelligent, evidence-based, capable and caring provider, she can deliver even better care if she utilizes her entire team. She empowers others to work at the top of their license in service to the patient.’
Anneliese gravitates towards solving our most vexing public health challenges. This she has leaned into providing medication assisted therapy (MAT) to combat the growing opioid epidemic in Western Colorado. She has been the driving force behind expansion of the MFHC Basalt site and services…
She has been a key leader at the MFHC Executive Team table as we strive to address the growing uninsured population through creative partnerships and development. And, she does so with compassion, savvy, and grace, often saying ‘solving this challenge and providing integrated care to all starts with our state of mind.’” – Ross Brooks, Chief Executive Officer