Coloradans have been breaking out their tank tops and road bikes to take advantage of record high temperatures.
At CHI, the warm weather has seen many of us getting out of the office for presentations and meetings in the community. We’re not claiming a statistical correlation (for all you data geeks), but we’re just saying . . .
This week is filled with presentations, possibly near you.
On Wednesday, Policy Analyst Tamara Keeney will present emergency department data to the Health Impact on Lives subcommittee of the ACC Program Improvement Advisory Committee (PIAC). Her presentation will be a deep dive into emergency department visits using Colorado Health Access Survey (CHAS) data broken out by insurance type and age. She will also share the three different categories of ED use that CHI has been exploring over the past year: overall use, preventable visits and avoidable visits.
We’re gearing up for a legislative Lunch and Learn event on Thursday at the Capitol. CEO Michele Lueck and Vice President Amy Downs will give a presentation reporting on some of Colorado’s biggest health bets, including creating a state-based insurance marketplace, an insurance co-op and the expansion of Medicaid eligibility.
Michele and Amy will examine which policy changes have succeeded and what major questions need to be addressed. They will look at rising insurance premiums, market consolidation and proposals on the horizon.
Michele will meet with two groups from the Denver Health Medical Center this week—once to give a presentation to the Board of Directors and once to give a presentation to the Executive and Leadership Committee. She will offer an environmental scan on market trends that could potentially impact Denver Health’s business.
Our Highway to Health series, a program designed to disseminate CHI’s research and expertise throughout Colorado, continues with CHI staffers spreading out across the state.
Policy Analysts Natalie Triedman and Emily Johnson have already made it out of the office, giving an overview of the 2015 Colorado Health Access Survey (CHAS) findings to the Colorado School of Public Health on CSU’s campus. They are also traveling to the Anschutz campus in Aurora later this week. More than 100 students learning about health systems, management and policy will hear their presentation.
Sara Schmitt, Director of Community Health Policy, will share local and statewide data on adults 60 and older in Boulder. The meeting is hosted by the Boulder Area Agency on Aging on Friday morning.
Jeff Bontrager, Director of Research on Access and Coverage, and Natalie Triedman are getting a full tour of southwest Colorado next week. They’re presenting findings from the 2015 CHAS to the Community Health Action Coalition in Durango, the Durango Chamber of Commerce, the Pagosa Springs Medical Center, and the Community Health Coalition based out of Cortez.
Follow us as we travel around the state. We may be stopping by your community soon! And we would love to hear from you if you would like a presentation.
Finally, what does 2016 mean?
For the annual Colorado Health Report Card, presented by the Colorado Health Foundation in partnership with CHI, it means 10 years of data. The Health Report Card tracks how Colorado’s performed on 38 key health indicators in the previous year. The population is broken down into five life stages—Healthy Beginnings, Healthy Children, Healthy Adolescents, Health Adults, and Healthy Aging.
Check out the Health Report Card at the Colorado Health Foundation website. And then visit CHI’s website for a deeper dive into the data.
While it is supposed to rain today, don’t forget to step outside later this week and enjoy the sunshine!