CHORDS Data Provide Unique Lens To Assess Depression In Denver
There has been surprisingly little evaluation that looks comprehensively at who’s affected by depression in Denver and what the Mile High City is doing – and can do – to address it. Data from CHORDS helped offer new insights into depression diagnoses throughout the city: Read the story.
The numbers are now one click away, whether you are comparing the number of adolescents diagnosed with depression in Frederick or tracking tobacco use in Denver’s Capitol Hill neighborhood.
The Colorado Health Observation Regional Data Service (CHORDS) is a unique regional network of health care, public health, and behavioral health partners that uses electronic health record data to identify health trends and support public health evaluation and monitoring efforts.
Click for Downloadable PDF Maps of Each Health Topic:
About CHORDS
Metro area public health and health care experts conceived and created this groundbreaking tool in 2011 to provide location-based information on population health measures in the Metro Denver area. CHORDS expanded to Larimer and Weld counties in 2018.
CHORDS aggregates medical and behavioral health data from 11 contributing providers. The information does not identify patients and does not include protected health records. It is meant to pinpoint pressing health needs in a community and suggest potential responses.
CHORDS partners providing technical support include University of Colorado Denver Adult and Child Consortium for Outcomes Research and Delivery Science (ACCORDS), Colorado Community Managed Care Network (CCMCN), and CORHIO.
Since 2016, the Colorado Health Foundation has provided grant support to the Colorado Health Institute (CHI) to expand the number of public health agencies using CHORDS to include the entire Denver metropolitan area and recruit additional health care and mental health providers to contribute data.
CHORDS data contributors:
Children’s Hospital Colorado, Clinica Family Health, Clinica Tepeyac, Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, Denver Health, High Plains Community Health Center, Jefferson Center for Mental Health, Kaiser Permanente Colorado, Mental Health Center of Denver, North Colorado Health Alliance, STRIDE Community Health Center, and Salud Family Health Centers.
How Can I Access Data through CHORDS?
Besides the public data available through interactive and PDF maps, local public health department representatives in the Denver metropolitan area have access to data through CHORDS. Don't see what you're looking for? Please contact the CHORDS public health project manager, Greg Budney (Gregory.Budney@dhha.org), to learn how data available through CHORDS can support community activities.
Researchers may contact the CHORDS research project manager, Rachel Zucker (Rachel.Zucker@ucdenver.edu), to discuss whether CHORDS can support specific research questions.
Click here to learn how new CHORDS data requests are developed.
Publications and Presentations by CHORDS Partners
- Developing a Regional Distributed Data Network for Surveillance of Chronic Health Conditions: The Colorado Health Observation Regional Data Service, published in the Sept/Oct 2019 issue of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice
- Seth Foldy, MD MPH Denver Public Health gave a Grand Rounds lecture at the Colorado School of Public Health/CU Anschutz Epidemiology.
- Kate Horle of COHRIO and Sara Schmitt of CHI presented to the Denver Health IT Summit in July 2018.
- Ken Scott of Denver Public Health assessed the county-level representativeness of CHORDS data.
- Jessica Bondy discussed PopMedNet.
- Alyson Shupe, Tri-County Health Department, presented to the National Association of City and County Health Officials in July 2018.
- Rachel Zucker, Adult and Child Consortium for Health Outcomes Research and Delivery Science, presented to the Public Health Informatics Conference in August 2018.