My Wishes for 2018

By Ana English, CIVHC President and CEO

This is time of year is particularly suited to reflection. As I pull the holiday decorations out of storage, I inevitably look back on the months since I packed away the stockings and garlands. This year has been full of change, and has brought with it new partnerships and exciting opportunities.

While I reflect on 2017, I also can’t help but look forward to 2018; full of potential, and aspirations. It is these hopes that I share with you today.

First and foremost, I wish health and happiness for everyone CIVHC has the pleasure to work with, serve and support. Many of us personally and organizationally faced tough challenges this year, but I believe how we move forward and the memories that we cherish are what defines us as individuals and frames our hopes for the future. Just recently, CIVHC lost an important and dear member of the executive committee of our board – Greg Smith, Executive Director of Colorado PERA. We will miss him immensely and will honor him and his tenacity by never giving up on our mission to improve value in health care.

My Wishes for 2018

For every person who is engaged with the health care system and seeking a life of good health and well-being, whether you are a patient, provider, or payer, I hope this year brings you:

• Courage…to ask the hard questions critical to reaching your goal. It is never easy to stand alone in the darkness, but right now, we need your voice more than ever,
• Support… of partners, friends, and colleagues; only by standing together can change be accomplished, and
• Grace… to know that what you do each day matters and that your actions ripple outward toward the greater good.

For those Change Agents committed to changing the trajectory of health care in Colorado and across the nation, I hope this year brings you:

• Strength… to remain bold and passionate! Years of talking about transforming the health care system have yielded few system-wide results; the time has come when action is necessary to make large-scale, effective, and long lasting change,
• Knowledge… in the form of evidence-based, actionable data, and an understanding of what your community needs so you can set the wheels of change in motion, and
• Patience… to make incremental short term changes that have long-term impact.

Finally, for the CIVHC family and team, my hopes for next year are:

• Be Curious and Innovative… as we strive to find new ways of turning unimaginable amounts of data into actionable information and tools.
• Understand… the important role each of you plays on the CIVHC team and in our mission to support Change Agents advancing the Triple Aim.
• Find the One Thing… that makes you smile every time you walk into the CIVHC office and makes you cherish the work we do.

Though things may seem a little uncertain with local and national changes taking place on a near-daily basis, I believe that the future is bright for health care in Colorado. Whatever happens, we can choose to focus on the positive opportunities that await us. An optimistic outlook is crucial as we work to expand our efforts and implement the critical changes that will improve health care cost and quality for those we serve, our communities, and ourselves.