Category: Trends In Health Care - Part 9

Opinion: Pediatric dental health crucial to long-term success

By Sarah Mapes Colorado ranks 38th in the country for kids who see a dentist regularly. One quarter of all Coloradans are children and only about 3 percent of these 1.2 million children have seen a dentist by age 1. Tooth decay is five times more common than asthma and four times more common than early childhood obesity. Research shows that good oral health is critical to a childs long-term success in life. Unfortunately, the data are not promising for Colorado kids. Tooth decay is almost entirely preventable, and yet around half of our Kindergartners suffer from it. Oral health…

Opinion: Informed patients essential for better health care

By Dr. David Downs Medical science has advanced at a remarkable pace. We can now replace worn joints and diseased heart valves, open clogged arteries and identify cancers before they become untreatable. We can see into the center of the body with remarkable detail using CT scanners, MRI machines and other technologies all without pain or discomfort. These and many other modern medical miracles are generally viewed as a great benefit to the health of those for whom they are available. And in the American spirit of newer, better and faster, we have taken to these services avidly. It is…

Insurance companies block nurse care

By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon Two of Colorados largest insurance companies refuse to pay for their clients to see independent advanced practice nurses in urban areas even though some patients want to see them and the care would cost less. Advanced practice nurses say the insurance companies, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Colorado and Rocky Mountain Health Plans, are protecting doctors in a turf war instead of focusing on whats best for patients and allowing free market choice. Nicole Snelgrove, 35, has insurance through Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Colorado and has chosen to spend more than…

HIV cases down, risky behavior up

By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon AIDS killed scores of David Lipsons close friends, an adored partner and even his own brother. One of the first men in the nation to be tested for HIV back in 1984, David Lipson received the same terrible test results that ensnared so many of his friends. Then 26 and living in Los Angeles, Lipson learned he was HIV positive and his doctor told him he would die within two years. HIV infection rates are down 45 percent in Denver from 2005. Rates could decrease further if more men engaged in safe sex. Source: Dr. Mark…

Coloradoâs health exchange must pay for itself by 2015

By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon While some states are still wrestling over whether to build their own health exchanges, Colorado is playing hurry-up offense, tackling major policy decisions including the biggest one on the horizon: how to pay for the online health insurance marketplace. Now a reality across the country as the Affordable Care Act steams toward full implementation, health exchanges are supposed to make it easier for individuals and small business owners to choose and buy health insurance plans. Some people will qualify for government subsidies to help them afford insurance while exchanges will funnel others into public health insurance…

Opinion: With health reform moving forward, costs remain an issue

By Dr. Ted Norman Here we are, billions of political ads later, facing the same challenges from before the election. In health care, now that the Supreme Court ruled the Affordable Care Act constitutional and it is unlikely to be repealed, the work starts on implementation and discussion about health insurance exchanges. In simple terms, exchanges are brokers for insurances companies set up by government or private companies. In Colorado, for example, an exchange board has been developed to solicit bids from insurance companies that meet a specified level of benefits and cost. The general public can then go to…

Now in control, Colorado Democrats want Medicaid expansion

By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon Tuesdays election results ensure that implementation of Obamacare will proceed on a fast track in Colorado and Democratic lawmakers want to move ahead with Medicaid expansion that could bring health coverage to nearly a quarter million low-income Coloradans. We would like to push to get health care to as many people as possible because thats going to reduce the costs for everyone, said Rep. Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, who is expected to take the reins of the Colorado House in January after Democrats recaptured control of it on Tuesday. Gov. John Hickenlooper is more circumspect. While he…

Better primary care saves Colorado $20 million

By Katie Kerwin McCrimmon An experiment to ensure that complex Medicaid patients have a regular doctor and care coordinators who can help them stay healthy has saved Colorado an estimated $20 million in its first year, according to a new report from Colorados Medicaid managers. Were very happy that its moving in the right direction, said Laurel Karabatsos, director of health programs for the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF). So far, about 20 percent of Colorados more than 600,000 Medicaid clients are enrolled in the program called the Accountable Care Collaborative (ACC). Our goal over the…

Opinion: Data and quality measures essential for better health care

By Ned Calonge This week we saw the first presentation of the Colorado All Payer Claims Database, a project of the Center for Improving Value in Health Care (CIVHC) that is jointly funded by the Colorado Health Foundation and The Colorado Trust. We at The Trust believe that the claims and costs data collected through the APCD, as well as specific measures of quality, will provide an essential missing part of the spectrum of data needed to inform health care decisions by business leaders, policymakers, providers, payers and, of course, health care consumers. The Affordable Care Act goes a long…

Opinion: Data-driven health care policy goal of CHI

By Michele Lueck As the Colorado Health Institute observes its 10th anniversary this year, we are spending a bit of time looking back but much more time thinking about the future of health care in our state. CHI was founded in 2002 to address a gap in sound health policy data and analysis, particularly independent and impartial information. Today, the need for reliable data and research has never been greater as leaders in the public, private and nonprofit sectors work to transform Colorado’s health care system – an increasingly costly system that isn’t working as well as it should for nearly…