Ready, Set, Launch!
Tomorrow, Colorado will officially launch our work on the State Innovation Model (SIM) Pre-Testing Award. Colorado received this nearly $2 million award to improve and strengthen our State Health Care Innovation Plan.
This plan will serve as a launching pad of sorts. It’s an assessment of where we are today, where we are headed and how we will accelerate our efforts to successfully achieve the Triple Aim goals of better health and better care at lower costs. It will describe our strategy to use all of the levers available to transform our health care delivery system.
The SIM represents a significant opportunity for Colorado. States that have won full Model Testing Awards each received more than $40 million to innovate health care in their states. Colorado has the opportunity to ready itself for the next round of funding. The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation created the SIM initiative to accelerate creation of integrated and accountable health systems. Innovative redesign of delivery systems and payment models will drive this change.
Colorado is charged with refining its overall innovation plan, which will include our proposal to test a model that puts into action an innovative idea to help us more quickly move toward better care and better health at lower costs. The idea that’s percolating focuses on how to best integrate behavioral health and primary care.
As a state, we have many advantages. The first is our commitment – in both the public and private spheres – to health homes. We have invested significantly in this delivery platform redesign. Because of our involvement with Medicare’s Accountable Care Organization project, the establishment of the Accountable Care Collaborative in the Medicaid program and our multi-payer involvement in the Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative, many Coloradans already have a health home. Another advantage is our demonstrated ability to collaborate. The SIM award allows us to continue in the tradition of the 208 Commission and other collaborative projects.
The Colorado Health Institute is taking an active leadership role in this project. A stakeholder meeting for all those interested is scheduled for 10 a.m. tomorrow (Wednesday, May 29) at the History Colorado Center. I hope to see you there.