They Say March Comes in Like a Lion

“March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb,” the saying goes. Here at the Colorado Health Institute, March will be coming in and going out like a lion with a number of launches and publications on the agenda for this month.

In case you missed it, we released our latest report – Sharing the Cost: A Changing Landscape – late last week. The paper looks at the increasing use of consumer cost-sharing in the health insurance market. Sharing the Cost is the first in a series titled “Consumer Engagement and the Health Care System.” The goal of the series is to analyze efforts to improve the quality and efficiency of the health care system through the lens of market-based solutions. You can read lead author Anna Vigran’s blog on the cost-sharing report here.

Also last week, Amy Downs presented our final legislative Lunch & Learn to a group of about 30 attendees – including a dozen legislators. The presentation – Bending the Health Care Cost Curve – examined market-based opportunities to rein in costs of health care services. Amy’s Powerpoint, along with the first two lunch and learn presentations, are available for download.

Speaking of legislators, we are about halfway through the session and our legislative team is hard at work following the action at the capitol. Behind on the status of legislation so far? Check out the weekly legislative roundup from Kevin Butcher.

The Colorado Health Institute and our Safety Net Advisory Committee (SNAC) met for another installment of SNAC Lab last week titled The Right Recipe: Examining Workforce and Other Ingredients for Access to Care. Rebecca Alderfer, senior analyst, presented the findings from CHI’s report - Colorado’s Primary Care Workforce: A Study of Regional Disparities – with an additional focus on the level of access that Medicaid enrollees have to primary care physicians who accept Medicaid.

The arrival of March means the Colorado Health Report Card season is in high gear. The 2013 Colorado Health Report Card marks the eighth year of collaboration between The Colorado Health Foundation and the Colorado Health Institute. The Report Card ranks Colorado on 38 indicators organized into five life stages: Beginnings, Children, Adolescents, Adults and Aging. The Colorado Health Institute is helping to prepare presentations to give before and after the official public launch on March 26.

We are also working hard on the annual update of our eligible but not enrolled (EBNE) publications for both adults and children. These county level data look at Coloradans who are eligible for Medicaid and Child Health Plan Plus, but aren’t enrolled. Each publication includes a fact sheet and data supplement. Our children’s EBNE publication is set to release next week and the adults’ publication will follow soon after.