CHAS Survey Snapshots Focus on the Data

It’s National Public Health Week and here at the Colorado Health Institute we are celebrating with business as usual – helping to advance the health of all Coloradans by supporting health policy discussions with evidence-based analysis.

Tomorrow, we plan to release the second installment of a series we are calling Survey Snapshots based on data from the Colorado Health Access Survey (CHAS). Jeff Bontrager, our director of research on coverage and access, is delving into the issue of churn - becoming insured, uninsured or changing types of insurance over the course of a year.

Next up? Survey Snapshots on underinsurance, Medicaid, problems paying medical bills and views on the health care system. Later this month, watch for a CHAS brief based on a regression analysis of the factors contributing to lower rates of health insurance among the state’s adult Hispanics compared to non-Hispanics.

Senior analyst Rebecca Alderfer and Sara Schmitt, director of community health policy, are presenting at the Colorado Rural Health Center 2014 Safety Net Forum on Thursday. The conference – The Forum 2014, Essential Perspectives for Safety Net Providers – brings together safety net clinics from Colorado and surrounding states. Rebecca will be presenting “Finding a Doctor: It Matters Where You Live” using data from the Colorado Health Institute’s Primary Care Workforce study. At the exact same time, Sara is scheduled to be a panelist for “Oral Health Update … Policy, Access and Innovation.” For a sampling of Sara’s oral health work, read her CHAS Survey Snapshot on children’s oral health here.

Rebecca will continue exploring oral health in the state with a visit a school-based dental sealant program and a federally qualified health center to learn more about oral health and dental care in Colorado.

Keep a look out later this week for a blog from Kevin Butcher on retail marijuana legalization in Colorado – the focus of an upcoming CHI publication.

Last week, research analyst Natalie Triedman and research assistant Tamara Keeney presented on Colorado’s children eligible for but not enrolled (EBNE) in Medicaid or Child Health Plan Plus to a group at All Kids Covered – a coalition focused on reducing the number of uninsured children in the state. You can find Natalie and Tamara’s presentation here.

Also from last week, be sure to read our latest legislative blog from Director of Legislative Services Megan Lane on the proposed budget.