Going through treatment for cancer is like running your first marathon unprepared – terrifying, unpredictable, and with no option to turn back. You don’t really know what to expect or how your body is going to feel or react. There are ups and downs and some miles, especially the last, Read more…
Clarification: I might get fired for this blog if I don’t say up front that health care transparency is 100% necessary and I wholeheartedly believe in it. But not for patients alone. Now that I have that out of the way…. There are some who believe that if we simply Read more…
By Cari Frank, MBA It was the coldest shower I had taken in a long time, and it ended up saving my life. I was spending Christmas 2021 in Belize with my family, and our hotel had no hot water. A minor thing, given that I was in paradise. One Read more…
Landmark Legislative Year for the CO APCD In 2010, legislators and other supporters signed the Colorado All Payer Claims Database (CO APCD) legislation to address the need for data to drive improvements in health care. When I started with CIVHC two years later, as the first test claims were coming Read more…
When CIVHC made a commitment to address racism and health inequities in 2020, we recognized that systemic racism has permeated our society for centuries and continues to disproportionately disadvantage people and communities across our nation. As an organization whose mission is to improve the health of all Coloradans, we simply Read more…
At Center for Improving Value in Health Care (CIVHC), we often get asked how the Colorado All Payer Claims Database (CO APCD) differs from other APCDs across the nation. And the answer is that it differs quite a bit depending on which APCD you’re comparing it to. When it comes Read more…
By: CIVHC VP of Communication and Marketing, Cari Frank, MBA During my annual exam last fall, my physician assistant asked if I’d like to include a Vitamin D test with my lab work. I quickly said yes, thinking that it seemed like a good idea and that I should get Read more…
Over the holidays I had the rare pleasure of having my son help me bake cookies for a Christmas cookie exchange. It was rare not only because I never bake, but also because he’s 16 years old, and although he is accommodating with chores, getting him to help in the kitchen is like pulling teeth. Perhaps seeing cookies in his future, he was surprisingly happy to help this time. Music was playing and our hands were full of dough when in a very nonchalant manner, he said his best friend’s girlfriend was in the hospital after trying to commit suicide.
I’ve always been environmentally conscientious thanks to freshmen orientation week at Colorado College where they drilled into our heads that we were all a part of the problem, and the solution, to natural resource conservation. As a result, I turn off the sink if I see it running unnecessarily in Read more…
I’ve been in health care for over 20 years, but until several years ago I had no idea what opioids were, what they were doing to our society, and the complexity of the problem. I never really paid much attention to when and how many opioid prescriptions I was personally Read more…