I recently had the honor of representing CIVHC and the Colorado All Payer Claims Database (CO APCD) as CEO for the first time on the national stage. CIVHC was included as one of three State Health Data Leaders in Manatt’s National Summit on Health Data: Realizing the Promise of All Payer Claims Databases sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Peterson Center on Healthcare and stood among some of the biggest and brightest names in APCDs – not to mention health data generally. The speakers and organizations taking part in the event were pioneers in the collection, analysis, and application of data to improve the health care system in the United States. Needless to say, it was something of a daunting crowd. As I finished my presentation, it struck me that this “daunting” crowd was in reality a crowd of our peers and fellow trailblazers, and that the Summit was the perfect capstone to CIVHC’s celebration of ten years of data transparency with the CO APCD.
The CO APCD is an amazing asset to the state of Colorado and it was inspiring to see it acknowledged by industry leaders across the nation. The white paper released in conjunction with the Summit repeatedly cites CIVHC and highlights the expansive charge that comes with the administration of the CO APCD. As “[one of] the most widely released and used APCDs nationally,” CIVHC is responsible for ensuring that the data is available for use by a wide variety of entities working towards improving “health care utilization, expenditures, and quality and safety performance in Colorado”. Executing that charge over the next ten years means increased and continuous focus on improving data quality and utility, but also means an increased focus on exploration and innovation.
It is an exciting time to be at CIVHC and working with the CO APCD. While the work to strengthen our data foundation will never be finished, we are increasingly centering partnership, creativity, and curiosity to explore what comes next. We are developing new analytic tools and skills, bringing in new perspectives through our Program Evaluation team and others, and refreshing and strengthening our role as a trusted community partner and collaborator. Under the strong leadership of our previous CEO, Ana English, we have spent the last years building the infrastructure to support the CO APCD and the skills and teamwork to help make that asset accessible and actionable, but there is much more we can do to provide equitable access for everyone looking to improve the health of Colorado.
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It took a lot of faith in 2010 for Colorado’s legislators, government, and philanthropic organizations to trust a brand-new non-profit to build what was, at that point, essentially an aspiration. CIVHC took that trust very seriously and we have spent ten years building, curating, and working to reveal the potential of the CO APCD. As we come to the end of that first decade, we are in a very different environment. APCDs are no longer aspirational or conceptual, but robust tools in the search for improved health and health care for all. CIVHC is collaborating with partners in Colorado and other state APCDs to explore how we can better incorporate data about health inequities and inform the conversations to reduce or eliminate them. We are leading multi-state groups to explore how to bring the data from different states together to support more robust research and health measurement. CIVHC is also working within Colorado to find partners that will help us bring the claims together with complementary data sets, such as clinical and demographic data, to create more robust analytics to support Colorado’s efforts to improve equitable health and health care across the state.
Currently, twenty different states already have some form of an APCD with more than a dozen additional states looking to begin the process. Because of what CIVHC and Colorado have built, we are looked to as a leader and guide to help spread the development of new APCDs and shape the future of APCDs in the nation. This is another trust we take seriously – cementing Colorado’s place as a frontrunner in providing decreased costs and a better chance for health for everyone, informing evidence-based policy, and connecting with community to ensure we are supporting change where it starts – with the people of Colorado.