This past week we mourned the death of Prince but felt great hope that the newly signed “Paris Agreement” climate change deal will help to ensure a healthier world for us all.
Through the ups and downs, the team here at the Colorado Health Institute (CHI) is busy with work that we also hope will contribute to that healthier world.
We are conducting a survey of health care providers on behalf of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to understand current and future health care workforce issues regarding health navigators and their role in our health care system.
After several weeks of research, stakeholder meetings, cognitive tests, and edits to the questionnaire, this week marks our final preparations for the survey, which will focus on non-licensed lay health navigators! We are busy finalizing the survey before we send it out to health care employers across the state early next week.
Almost 650 bills have been introduced so far in this year’s legislative session. And we agree, that is really overwhelming. So Legislative Director and Policy Analyst Allie Morgan has already done 99 percent of the work for you, whittling down the exhausting list to eight bills of great interest to those in the health policy world. They are highlighted in her most recent blog, covering five notable and three upcoming votes you need to know about.
CHI had the privilege of presenting data and analysis to the Colorado Springs Health Foundation last week. To prep, Policy Analyst Natalie Triedman spoke to its executive director, Cari Davis, about the new foundation founded in 2012. Read about Natalie’s interview and takeaways in “New Grantmaker on the Block: The Colorado Springs Health Foundation.”
Sara Schmitt, Director of Community Health Policy, is a woman about town this week, presenting to the Rose Foundation and Caring for Colorado on oral health data. She will report on disparities in Colorado using the 2015 Colorado Health Access Survey (CHAS).
Remember that you can request your own localized presentation with data from the CHAS. It is as simple as emailing CHAS@ColoradoHealthInstitute.org. Hope to see you soon!
Don’t miss CHI’s independent analysis of ColoradoCare, a ballot measure seeking to amend the constitution and provide health care for all Coloradans. Yes, it affects you and yes, you will be voting on it come November. If you haven’t heard of ColoradoCare, read about the basics of the measure here. A follow-up publication is coming soon with more analysis.
We hope everyone enjoys their final week of April. As the saying goes, May will be full of flowers. But we all know that Colorado rarely abides by this rule.