P. Phil and the 2015 Colorado Health Report Card

February 3, 2015

Punxsutawney Phil – the groundhog celebrity of my native Pennsylvania – saw his shadow this morning, which according to tradition means six more weeks until we see spring. On the bright side, the Colorado Health Institute can say with much more certainty that there are only three more days until we see the results of the 2015 Colorado Health Report Card.

This year’s Health Report Card will be unveiled to legislators on Thursday in the Old Supreme Court Chambers. In its ninth year, the collaboration between the Colorado Health Foundation and the Colorado Health Institute grades the state on five life stages ranging from babies to seniors based on a comparison of 38 health indicators with the other states.

CEO Michele Lueck will present an overview of the findings to the Colorado Health Foundation’s employees Tuesday. And CHI plans our own in-house release of the Health Report Card for our team members Wednesday afternoon.

All of this preparation is leading up to Thursday’s formal unveiling, when Rahn Porter, interim CEO of the Colorado Health Foundation, Dr. Don Murphy, board chairthe three leaders, Jessica Yates, chair of the policy committee of the Colorado Health foundation board, and Michele will talk about the results and then participate in a panel discussion. Check out @COHealthFDN and @COHealthInst on Twitter for the results as they are revealed.

While the formal launch is Thursday, the 2015 Health Report Card launch will continue its roll-out during the year with the release of new materials, including analysis at the community level, throughout the year. The new format signals a focus on local data and local health.

Visit the Colorado Health Foundation’s website on Thursday to view the Report Card. Also, check back here on CHI’s website to read a blog by Policy Analyst Natalie Triedman, who has led the project for CHI.

Earlier today, our friends at the Colorado Coalition for the Medically Underserved (CCMU) blogged about a collaboration between CHI and CCMU to create a Colorado Access to Care Dashboard. The goal of the dashboard is to help Colorado’s communities – both geography-based and population-based – to understand their specific local needs around accessing health care. We are excited to launch the Dashboard with CCMU this spring.

Throughout the week, Director of Community Health Policy Sara Schmitt and Policy Analyst Jessica Fern will attend meetings of the Healthy Schools Collective Impact group.

The large stakeholder group has met numerous times to create a vision and goals for how school health can improve across the state. This week, four work groups will convene for the first time. Sara will attend the mental health services meeting on Tuesday and Jessica will attend the nutrition and student health services meetings on Wednesday. The group is led by the Colorado Education Initiative with support from a steering committee made up of members from the Colorado Health Foundation and other partners.

Sara and Jessica will also spend time together out of the office on Thursday when they will take part in a stakeholder group at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. CDPHE is undergoing a process to receive accreditation from the Public Health Accreditation Board and CHI has been invited to share how we go about our collaborative work.

Meanwhile, team members are brainstorming ideas to round out CHI’s 2015 research agenda to present to Michele and other senior directors. We will finalize our annual plan by the end of the month.

Finally, looking forward to CHI’s board members in the office Thursday afternoon to meet.