The Colorado All Payer Claims Database (CO APCD) is built to answer big questions: What does health care cost? How are Coloradans using care? Where do gaps exist, and what information can help communities, policymakers, researchers, and health care leaders make better decisions?
To keep answering those questions well, the systems behind the data need to evolve, too.
Over the past year, CIVHC has been transitioning CO APCD data operations to Onpoint Health Data, now the official CO APCD data vendor. This transition followed a competitive selection process focused on strengthening the CO APCD for the future, including improving data accessibility, reducing technical gaps, enhancing CIVHC’s ability to innovate, and increasing CIVHC oversight of data operations.
This is a major milestone. It is also an investment in the long-term value of the CO APCD.
Why Onpoint?
The CO APCD has grown significantly since its launch. Today, it supports public reporting, research, evaluation, state initiatives, dataset releases, and custom analyses that help bring transparency to Colorado’s health care system.
As use of the database expands, CIVHC needs infrastructure that can grow with it. The transition to Onpoint supports that goal by building a more scalable environment, improving alignment with the Common Data Layout being used by APCDs across the nation, increasing opportunities to collaborate with other APCDs, and creating a stronger foundation for future analytic enhancements. In simple terms: the goal of this vendor transition is to make the data easier to manage, easier to understand, and more useful over time.
The process of changing vendors is complex, but it helps ensure the CO APCD can keep evolving, with better tools, clearer processes, and more room to grow.
Where the Transition Stands
A majority of core transition activities to Onpoint are complete and operational workflows have moved into the new environments: data submissions and processing, claims and file data transfers from the legacy vendor, secure analytic enclave buildout, and production output development are all working within Onpoint’s systems.
A large portion of CO APCD claims data has already been transferred to Onpoint, including more than 1 billion claims dating back to 2012. Medicare Fee-for-Service (MFFS) data is moving through a separate federal process involving CMS security and approval requirements. CIVHC currently estimates MFFS data will be available in the new environment later this year.
Refer to this helpful infographic to see a big picture of where the transition process stands:
During the last two months, CIVHC has focused on data quality validations, process and workflow refinement, and functionality improvements in the new environment. The goal is not just to move data from one place to another. The goal is to bring more sophisticated analytic capabilities and expanded capacity to support high-quality claims analysis at scale both now and into the future.
While we continue testing and validating the new environment, submitters may experience minor delays in responding to requests. We appreciate your patience as we complete this initial large-scale transition effort. If you experience significant delays within the data harbor process, please contact our Quality & Intake team directly at Quality & Intake submissions@civhc.org
What Data Users and Submitters May Notice
Data users and submitters will see some important operational changes.
First, the timing around the data warehouse refresh is changing. Refreshes will now occur toward the end of the refresh month rather than mid-month. Refreshes will, however, continue to take place on a bi-monthly basis. The July warehouse refresh was completed on July 23rd, with geocoding – which is running off the refresh – expected to be available by mid-August.
Second, payers and data submitters are now using Onpoint’s submission environment, Data Harbor. CIVHC and Onpoint remain committed to partnering with submitters to ensure a successful transition and ongoing support.
Finally, some structural aspects of the underlying data are shifting to reflect updated processing logic and field naming conventions. This is standard for this kind of vendor transition as individual vendors have their own proprietary business rules to intake, validate, and transform the data.
CIVHC is updating support documentation for data users. This includes materials to help users understand the new environment, updated workflows, and how these changes affect data outputs, as mentioned above. Updated documentation and resources will be shared on our Data User Resources page as they become available. Data users should reach out to their Strategic Partnerships Manager or contact us at ColoradoAPCD@civhc.org for questions or assistance.
What Comes Next
The next phase is optimization and continuous improvement. CIVHC will continue validating data quality, refining production processes, monitoring refresh readiness, and building documentation to support data users.
For those interested in more detail, CIVHC will host the CO APCD Research Showcase on July 30. The Showcase will offer a deeper look at the transition, including new capabilities, analytic enhancements, data improvements, and will highlight other capabilities that the new vendor environment will make possible in the years ahead.
For CIVHC, this transition represents more than a vendor change. It is part of our broader commitment to building a stronger, more valuable CO APCD for Colorado that continues supporting transparent, actionable, and trusted health care data for years to come.
