The roads outside Cañon City, Colorado, wind through high desert and pine-covered hills. Craig Thompson knows them well.
Craig spent 20 years on active duty, first in the Army and then in the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS). Today he serves in a different way. As a Nurse Practitioner (NP) with Signify Health, he has driven up to 160 miles to support health plan members in rural Colorado. Now he is taking that service on the road as a Signify Health traveling clinician.
This year Veterans Day falls during National Nurse Practitioner Week (November 8 to 14), and National Rural Health Month is recognized throughout November. Craig's story speaks to all three.
A bond that doesn't need explaining
Craig spent seven and a half years in the Army and the rest of his active duty career with the USPHS. Before joining Signify Health, he supported veterans in an office setting with another organization. He still feels that connection every time he meets a member who served.
“When I meet a veteran in their home, I feel more connected right away,” Craig said. “We share a bond that most people in this country don't have.”
No two visits look the same. “One day I'm in a trailer out in the country, and the next I'm in a big house in the city,” he said. “I meet such a wide range of people.”
When the closest care is 60 miles away
Rural communities have roughly 40% fewer physicians per capita than urban areas. In the area Craig serves, that gap hit home when a local health system shut down.
“There's a wide range of economic disparities in rural Colorado,” Craig said. “When a health system left the valley, members had two options: change their health plan or drive 60 miles just to see a doctor.”
Distance is only part of it. Many members depend on family or friends for a ride to appointments. When prices climb, some face hard choices.
“When gas and food prices are high, members have to choose between seeing a doctor and feeding their family,” Craig said.
An In-Home Health Evaluation (IHE) brings a licensed clinician to the member. During a visit Craig reviews medications, talks through physical and mental health and looks for barriers like fall risk or food insecurity. When a screening is recommended, he explains why it matters.
“I walk members through the benefits of a test and the risks of skipping it," he said. "If you don't do the test, you don't know what's going on.”
Sometimes the most important support is practical. Craig has met members living with dementia or mild cognitive impairment who had run out of their medications with no family involved.
“I've had members call their pharmacy right there with me to get their refills,” he said. “Do I ever wonder what would have happened if I wasn't there? Absolutely.”
The service continues on the road
Craig has been with Signify Health for about two years and recently became a traveling clinician. Craig now visits members wherever more clinicians are needed, across a region or even the country.
For Craig, the road is part of the appeal. “I enjoy driving around the country, seeing new places and new faces,” he said. “It also gives me a chance to see my kids and grandkids when I am close to them in their hometown.”
New communities have mostly confirmed what he already knew. “I think that these rural communities face the same dilemmas as the other rural areas,” Craig said. Members struggle to get in front of a clinician, and preventive gaps stay open as a result.
That is where an IHE can make a difference. Catching a missed medication, a fall risk or an overdue screening at the kitchen table can help members stay healthy close to home.
Craig also shares what he learns in members' homes as part of Signify Health's Clinician Advisory Council, helping teams across the company improve the experience for clinicians and members. Asked to sum up what he enjoys most from that work in one word, his answer was simple: Collaboration.
Twenty years in uniform. Hundreds of miles of rural road. A new chapter on the move. The uniform has changed, but for Craig, the service continues.
Are you a clinician interested in helping health plan members gain a more comprehensive view of their health? To learn more about opportunities with Signify Health, visit our Clinical Careers page.
Reference to Signify Health herein refers to Signify Health, LLC and its contracted independent physician owned entities to which it provides administrative services, including Signify Health Medical Associates, PLLC; Brookview Medical Associates, PLLC; Signify Health Medical Associates of California, P.C.; Signify Health Medical Associates of New Jersey, LLC; and Signify Health Medical Associates of Kansas, LLC.