Our Work
High school classes for teen moms, early childhood education for their little ones, and health care for both. It’s all available at the Florence Crittenton High School in west Denver.
An on-campus school-based health center (SBHC) opened at Florence Crittenton two years ago, meaning the young mothers can get regular appointments for themselves and their children. Last year, the Alethia E. Morgan, M.D. Health Center helped every child stay up to date on immunizations while decreasing school absences among the moms.
Health policy in Washington seems to be stalled as the new presidential administration takes shape. But health issues are well underway at the Colorado legislature.
The Colorado Health Institute team is taking an all-hands-on-deck approach to covering the debates in Denver and Washington this year, and we have a lot to report this week.
Life’s hectic. One example: Seeing a doctor is sometimes easier said than done. Maybe you can’t find child care or are reluctant to ask the boss for time off. Perhaps the provider you want to see doesn’t take your insurance or isn’t accepting new patients.
Regardless of the reasons, nearly one of five Coloradans report not getting needed care in the previous 12 months. And the extent of the problem can vary dramatically depending on where you live.
Repeal. Replace. Repair. Rebuild.
All these “re” words are floating around Washington as Congress moves to get rid of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
In his State of the State address on Jan. 12, Gov. John Hickenlooper called for making the behavioral health system “easier to navigate, more efficient and more responsive.”
He noted strides in expanding access to coverage and integrating primary care and behavioral health. “But,” he added, “behavioral health demands our attention at all points … and not just as one-off efforts when problems get too big to ignore.”
I recently bought a new blue car. Yes, I followed the herd and got a Subaru. Yes, I’ve christened it The Papa Smurf. And yes, the car has lots of nifty features – like a system that warns me if I’m about to back into a Dumpster -- that often make me wonder if my car is smarter than I am.
Warm-up time is over for the Colorado legislative session. After a few weeks of ceremonies and getting-to-know-you meetings, lawmakers are starting to vote on a stack of interesting bills.
Next week will be a busy one in health policy.
The legislative session has begun, which means CHI is busy tracking health care bills, conducting research about proposed policy and making sure that lawmakers know we’re here to support them with data, analysis and context.
And we’re so excited to launch a new event: “Health Matters: A Day of Health Policy at the Capitol.” CHI and 22 other organizations engaged in health policy in Colorado will gather on the first floor of the Capitol on Wednesday, February 8, to meet with lawmakers and other policymakers, share resources and answer questions.
It feels really good to be back. I moved to DC in 2012, and not a day went by that I didn’t miss Colorado.
But last week I moved back to Denver to join CHI as a policy analyst working on population health, including behavioral health and other public health issues that impact Coloradans.
CHI’s mission to provide evidence-based data and analysis to inform policy and advance health places it in a unique role in Colorado’s health policy community. It’s this vision that put CHI at the top of my search when I chose to come back to Colorado.
And we’re off! It’s been a busy first two weeks of the legislative session, full of speeches and ceremony and yes, plenty of new bills. The 120-day session is too quick for a marathon, too long for a sprint — more like a fast-paced racewalk with some pushing and shoving along the way. (There are 1,275 days until the next Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Not that we’re counting.)