CHI Partners with The Denver Foundation to Conduct Research and Analysis For New Grantmaking Fund

The Colorado Health Institute (CHI) conducted the research and analysis of the state’s health care landscape that provided direction for the new Colorado Health Access Fund at The Denver Foundation, which just released its first Request for Proposals.

The fund will award approximately $5 million a year between 2015 and 2022 to increase access to behavioral health care and improve health outcomes for those with high health care needs across Colorado. 

The Denver Foundation engaged CHI in 2014 to study the issue of access to care and to identify opportunities for the Colorado Health Access Fund to intervene in a meaningful way. The analysis addresses four questions:

• What barriers do Coloradans with high health care needs face when accessing care?
• How do these barriers differ by region?
• What solutions or approaches hold promise for improving access?
• How can the Colorado Health Access Fund support improved access – and improved health – across the state?

The report prepared by CHI provides data and qualitative information from key stakeholders to help better understand Colorado’s health and health care climate. CHI interviewed 25 Colorado experts and traveled the state conducting regional community dialogues in order to tell the story of health in Colorado and to identify gaps in access to care, especially for Coloradans with high health needs.

Based on CHI’s work, the Colorado Health Access Fund advisory committee decided to focus on behavioral health care, which consistently emerged as an area of high need. 

Need More Information?

Media Contact: Deborah Goeken, Senior Director of Operations and Communications, goekend@coloradohealthinstitute.org or 720.382.7094.

Jeff Bontrager, Director of Research on Coverage and Access, is available for interviews. Jeff can be reached at bontragerj@coloradohealthinstitute.org or 720.382.7075.