Our Work
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.)
The moment has arrived. At 10 a.m. Colorado time, Donald J. Trump became the 45th president of the United States.
Trump has already ushered in a change in tone to the White House. But those of us who work in health policy are still waiting to see the substance of his proposals for remaking the nation’s health system.
Trump began his inaugural speech by taking a dark view of President Obama’s eight-year presidency and the state of the country as a whole.
Governor John Hickenlooper delivered a State of the State address this morning that was heavy on health policy — starting with a call to modify the Hospital Provider Fee to control costs and help rural hospitals and clinics.
We publish our annual legislative forecast is full of information on the coming debates, from the detailed, wonky policy choices about issues such as prescription drug costs and freestanding emergency departments to the big-league national fights that will reverberate here in Colorado.
CHI’s ninth Hot Issues in Health Care conference wrapped up last week, and since then we’ve been collecting feedback and processing our own reactions. This year’s event — our largest ever! — drew more than 250 attendees
This Data Spotlight digs deep into one slice of the data — health in rural Colorado.