CIVHC Newsletter | May 2018
The Best Part of My Day - Helping Change Agents Transform Health Care
by Jonathan Mathieu, PhD, VP of Data and Delivery
A large part of my job here at CIVHC is the creation and nurturing of collaborations with organizations across the nation. Many times these relationships are built while working alongside like-minded individuals, striving to improve health care through projects like the Total Cost of Care led by the Network for Regional Healthcare Improvement (NRHI) or the investigation into variation in cost and quality performance across health systems with researchers at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and Harvard University. Click to learn about a few ways CIVHC has supported Change Agents with data from the CO APCD in their efforts to improve health care for us all.
Cancer Prevalence Insights
A new  cancer insights infographic , in tandem with a  chronic condition infographic , is now available highlighting notable cancer-specific trends and opportunities from our Condition Prevalence interactive report :  

  • Breast Cancer is by far the cancer with the highest prevalence (0.79%), followed by cervical cancer (0.21%)
  • The cancers reported tend to be more prevalent in the older population (65+), with the exception of cervical cancer which is more prevalence among women (35-64 yrs.)
  • The 35-64 yrs. population covered by Medicare Advantage has the highest prevalence of all cancers reported
  • Cancers tend to be more prevalent in rural counties among the Medicare Advantage and Medicaid population
CIVHC Connect
Recording now available!
We recently re-launched the CIVHC Connect Meeting series! Our first meeting focused on public data available from the CO APCD that is helping communities identify opportunities to positively impact health and lower spending. Click below to watch the webinar held on May 21.

Once a quarter, we'll gather Change Agents from across the state for conversations about topics that have the potential to change the health care trajectory in Colorado and beyond.

Information about our next CIVHC Connect meeting will be promoted soon!
Plaintalk Blog
How Healthy are Coloradans?
Two of the big draws to living in Colorado are the sunny days and endless opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. Unfortunately, not everyone can take full advantage of what Colorado has to offer when limited by illnesses and chronic conditions. Staying as healthy as possible is paramount to enjoying life to the fullest and it is the ultimate outcome of a high-performing health system. As a result, one of the three legs of the health care Triple Aim stool is improving health – in addition to lowering costs and raising the quality of health care for patients. The simultaneous focus on health ensures that cost-cutting and quality measures focus on outcomes and the overall health of the population.

Featured CO APCD Change Agent
Coalition for Sepsis Survival
The Coalition for Sepsis Survival (C4SS) is a nonprofit organization committed to encouraging early recognition and effective treatment of sepsis and decreasing mortality rates. C4SS links within a network of resources, utilizing the most effective tools, for achieving the best, demonstrated practice in the management of sepsis. C4SS used CO APCD data to help increase the quality of inpatient care while lowering costs by investigating the correlation between the cost of care and the procedures used in hospitals with low sepsis mortality rates.

Featured Community Change Agent
The Commonwealth Fund
Since 2006, The Commonwealth Fund has produced 12 health system scorecards examining performance at the national, state, and local level. They have also conducted case studies examining more than 100 promising practices for improving health care. The scorecards rank states and local areas on more than 40 indicators of health care access, quality, cost, and outcomes. They reveal wide geographic variations in performance as well as racial and income-related disparities in care both within and between states. Case studies dig deeper into such findings to explore promising practices for delivering better, more efficient health care.

Center for Improving Value in Health Care | Copyright 2018 CIVHC