By Shannon Lukens. Photo: Julia von Allmen, PA-C, family medicine; Soniya Fidler, president, UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center; Dr. Jennifer Kempers, internal medicine; and Dr. Brian Harrington, family medicine.
Yampa Valley Medical Associates is joining UCHealth. YVMA was founded back in 2000 as full-service primary medical care. Dr. Brian Harrington says it has been difficult to recruit providers and retain staff due to the high cost of living, so joining with UCHealth will help by combining resources.
The new name will be UCHealth Primary Care – Steamboat Springs, as of Oct. 1.
Press Release from UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center; July 1, 2025.
Yampa Valley Medical Associates to join UCHealth
UCHealth Primary Care – Steamboat Springs will continue YVMA’s legacy of primary care in the Yampa Valley
Steamboat Springs, Colo. (July 1, 2025) – After serving the Yampa Valley for 25 years as an independent practice, the partners of Yampa Valley Medical Associates (YVMA) have decided to join UCHealth. They are confident UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center (YVMC) will continue their legacy of providing comprehensive, quality primary care for their patients.
The partners – Dr. Brian Harrington, family medicine; Dr. Jennifer Kempers, internal medicine; and Julia von Allmen, PA-C, family medicine – will continue caring for patients locally, and are hopeful the other YVMA providers and staff will join them as part of UCHealth.
“YVMA was founded in 2000 with the goal to provide full-service primary care to patients in the Yampa Valley, and we’ve done that,” said Kempers. “We’ve watched in recent years how primary care services have shifted across the nation with reimbursement challenges and difficulties recruiting providers and staff. It’s taken time for those changes to reach us locally, but they have. We’ve been fortunate to partner with YVMC and UCHealth over the years, and we are grateful for this next chapter with them.”
“Health research has long documented that a strong primary care base is essential for healthy communities. My partners and I remain committed to delivering such high quality care to our patients,” said Harrington. “Unfortunately, there is inadequate funding for primary care, and we have struggled to recruit providers and retain staff in a community with a high cost of living. Joining UCHealth provides us the opportunity and resources to continue serving our community with a partner who shares our values. We look forward to continuing the same experience for our patients.”
YVMA will work with YVMC over the coming months to ensure a coordinated transition. UCHealth Primary Care – Steamboat Springs will open on October 1. YVMA began using Epic, UCHealth’s electronic medical record in 2019, so patient records will remain in the same system, giving the providers continued access. Patients will maintain access to their personal health records through My Health Connection. Current appointments with YVMA providers that are scheduled after the Oct. 1 transition will remain as scheduled with the existing provider.
“We are grateful for this partnership as it will provide our patients and community with continued access to trusted primary care without interruption for years to come,” said von Allmen. “We are committed not only to the health of our patients but this entire valley that we all call home.”
“We’re excited to welcome YVMA’s providers and staff into the UCHealth family,” said Soniya Fidler, president of YVMC. “Combined, they have over 50 years of primary care experience that is trusted by so many in this community. Patients can continue seeing their primary care team, now with the support and connectivity of UCHealth.”
About Yampa Valley Medical Associates
Founded in 2000, Yampa Valley Medical Associates, P.C. was created to ensure patients receive the most comprehensive, preventative and proactive health care services from a team of experts. Its health care model provides outpatient care for newborns, children and adults. By including the patient, the patient’s family, a primary care provider and a care team, the providers create a personalized care plan that focuses on each person’s individual lifestyle and unique medical concerns.
About UCHealth
UCHealth is a nationally recognized nonprofit health system that pushes the boundaries of medicine through advanced treatments and clinical trials, improving health through innovation and providing unmatched patient care in the Rocky Mountain West. Investing $1.3 billion in community benefits including $570 million in uncompensated care each year, UCHealth is Colorado’s largest Medicaid provider and dedicated to the communities it serves. With the region’s only adult academic medical center, University of Colorado Hospital on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus, UCHealth includes 35,000 employees, 14 acute-care hospitals and hundreds of physicians across Colorado, Wyoming and western Nebraska.
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