Evaluating Health Care Utilization Among Black Coloradans
The Center for African American Health (CAA Health) works to improve the health and well-being of Metro Denver’s Black community through education, advocacy, direct services, and support navigating the systems that impact health. To better understand differences in how Coloradans access and use health care, CAA Health partnered with CIVHC to evaluate patterns in health care utilization, costs, and documented social needs across race and ethnicity groups.
Using data from the Colorado All Payer Claims Database (CO APCD), CIVHC examined several measures of health care access and utilization, including emergency department visits, inpatient admissions and readmissions, follow-up care, and total spending. The evaluation identified notable differences across race and ethnicity groups, with some of the clearest disparities occurring in emergency department use and hospital admissions among Black Coloradans.
Key Findings:
- Increased Emergency Department Use
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- Emergency Department (ED) use is higher among Black populations across all insurance types.
- Black Alone, Hispanic or Latino and Black Alone, Non-Hispanic populations had the highest use, with rates up to nearly 2.7 times higher than the average within insurance types.
- Higher Admission and Readmission Rates
- Black populations had higher inpatient admissions, with rates up to approximately 2 times the average.
- 30-day readmission rates for Black populations approached 3 times the average in some cases, particularly in Traditional Medicare.
Other elements that were evaluated include follow-up care and total spending, which didn't show significant variances by race.
"CIVHC's analysis gave us clear, data-driven proof of the disparities our community has long experienced firsthand. This partnership doesn't just validate our work — it equips us to advocate more effectively for the equitable care Black Coloradans deserve," said Deidre Johnson, CO-Chief Executive Officer, CAA Health.
Understanding who is accessing care and where gaps exist is an important step toward creating more equitable, effective health care. CIVHC’s program evaluation services combine the power of CO APCD data with customized analysis to help organizations better understand the communities they serve, identify disparities, and measure opportunities for impact.
See how CIVHC’s program evaluation services can help you measure impact and advance your mission. Contact us to get started.
