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New Round of Health Innovation Awards Announced

More information available on second round of Health Care Innovation awards. Non-binding letters of intent are due by June 28. Applications will be released June 14 and due August 15.

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Spotlight on Innovation: DRCOG's Denver Regional Care Connection

The Denver Regional Council of Governments received Colorado’s first CMS Community-based Care Transitions Grant. CCTP is a program enacted by the ACA to pilot care transitions programs.

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HHS Releases Hospital Price Data and Funding for Data Centers

Secretary Sebelius of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the release of Medicare hospital charge data as part of a larger strategy to provide consumers with health care price comparisons.

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Spotlight on Innovation: Nurse Navigators Decrease Costs and Improve Care in SW Colorado

Helen Joline of  San Juan Basin Health's Care Coordination Team of the Southwest helped Romero become the healthiest he has been in decades after concerns with his blood pressure and cholesterol.

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Voices on Value | CIVHC e-NEWS, April 2013 is Now Available

CIVHC's April 2013 Voices on Value e-Newsletter is now available. Click here to view the newsletter and sign up to receive future editions!

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Legislation Passes to Include Small Group Claims in Colorado's APCD

Colorado’s APCD will soon be able to collect claims from the small group market, now that HB 13-1015 has passed both chambers and is on its way to the governor for signature.

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Spotlight on Innovation: SHAPE Program Pilots Paying for Integrating Behavioral and Physical Health

Through an innovative partnership, the SHAPE program aims to address one of the most significant problems facing the field of integrating behavioral health and primary care: financial sustainability.

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Voices on Value | CIVHC e-NEWS, March 2013 is Now Available

CIVHC's March 2013 Voices on Value e-Newsletter is now available. Click here to view the newsletter and sign up to receive future editions!

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Colorado Receives Funding to Refine Physical and Behavioral Health Integration Plan

Colorado was awarded "pre-testing" funding from the CMS Innovation Center to further develop a statewide health care innovation plan in support of behavioral and physical health integration.

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Voices on Value | CIVHC e-NEWS, February 2013 is Now Available

CIVHC's January 2013 Voices on Value e-Newsletter is now available. Click here to view the newsletter and sign up to receive future editions!

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Colorado Facilities Selected for Medicare Innovations Programs

Multiple Colorado hospitals and systems have recently been selected to participate in CMS Innovation Center's Accountable Care, Bundled Payment, and Care Transitions programs.

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Spotlight on Innovation: Centura Health Implements Medicare ACO

Colorado’s Centura Health was one of a handful of organizations across the country to begin implementing a Medicare ACO last month.

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Colorado Care Transitions Project Featured in JAMA Article

Colorado's Quality Improvement Organization helped Northwest Denver reduce readmissions by 10.78%.

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Colorado Hospitals Join Forces to Work on Care Transitions for Medicare Patients

The CMS Innovation Center has announced Colorado as one of 35 new sites to participate in a Community-based Care Transitions Program.

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CMS Announces 106 new ACOs - CO's Centura Health Included

Centura Health's Colorado Accountable Care, LLC was among the 106 Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) announced today by CMS.

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Voices on Value | CIVHC e-NEWS, January 2013 is Now Available

CIVHC's January 2013 Voices on Value e-Newsletter is now available. Click here to view the newsletter and sign up to receive future editions!

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Engaged Benefit Design puts the Patient and Clinician in the Driver’s Seat

Financial incentives and consumer empowerment is at the heart of a health care transformation pilot project taking place in Colorado’s San Luis Valley.

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University to Pilot Medicare Bundled Payments for Heart Failure Patients

Three University of Colorado health care partners are working with the CMS Innovation Center to launch a congestive heart failure bundled payment pilot.

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New Colorado Statewide Care Transitions Campaign to Launch in 2013

CIVHC's care transitions workgroups are joining together in 2013 to develop a statewide care transitions campaign that will unify, support and advance care transitions programs across Colorado.

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Voices on Value | CIVHC e-NEWS, December 2012 is Now Available

CIVHC's December Voices on Value e-Newsletter is now available. Sign up today to receive future editions!

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All-Payer Claims Databases set stage for data-driven healthcare and big analytics

If you haven’t heard of an APCD, it’s one of those acronyms you need to know. All Payer Claims Databases are simply databases that consist of claims data...

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Voices on Value | CIVHC e-NEWS, November 2012 is Now Available

CIVHC's Voices on Value e-Newsletter is now available. Click here to view the newsletter and sign up to receive future editions!

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Colorado's APCD Receives Local and National Attention

The launch of Colorado's APCD brought local and national attention to our state, recognizing an important milestone achievement along the journey toward health care improvement. Updated 12/3/12

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Colorado's All Payer Claims Database Now Available

The first round of reports from Colorado’s All Payer Claims Database - a groundbreaking tool for measuring health care costs and utilization - are now available at www.cohealthdata.org.

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Colorado hospitals face Medicare readmission penalties

Twenty Colorado hospitals face penalties in the coming year for seeing too many discharged Medicare patients come back within a month, small hits that nevertheless sting...

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Voices on Value | CIVHC e-NEWS, October 2012 is Now Available

CIVHC's Voices on Value e-Newsletter is now available. Click here to view the newsletter and sign up to receive future editions!

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Medicaid Accountable Care Collaborative shows promising savings

Colorado's key Medicaid-reform effort — matching thousands of state-supported patients to "medical homes" and careful case management — is showing promising savings...
 

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Voices on Value | CIVHC e-NEWS, September 2012 is Now Available

CIVHC's Voices on Value e-Newsletter is now available. Click here to view the newsletter and sign up to receive future editions!

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CMS Selects 73 Colorado Practices to Participate in Medical Home Initiative

The CMS Innovation Center has selected 73 Colorado primary care practices to participate in the Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative.

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CIVHC names Jay Want, MD, new Chief Medical Officer

CIVHC has named Jay Want, MD, Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Want, a nationally recognized leader in health care quality and cost innovation, joins CIVHC’s executive team.

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Colorado Health Foundation honors consumer advocate Award recognizes leadership in health care reform in Colorado

CIVHC board member Barbara Yondorf received the distinguished John K. Iglehart Award for Leadership in Health Policy during the recent Colorado Health Symposium.

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Voices on Value | CIVHC e-NEWS, August 2012 is Now Available

CIVHC's August e-newsletter, Voices on Value, is now available. Click here to view this month's topics.

 

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Statewide Payment Reform and Delivery System Redesign Inventory Now Available

To inform and advance Triple Aim goals, CIVHC released an updated inventory identifying payment reform strategies and delivery system redesign initiatives in Colorado that are in various stages...

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CIVHC and CHI Identify Payment Strategies to Control Health Care Costs and Improve Quality in Colorado

CIVHC and CHI released a new report that examines strategies to reform the health care payment system and their use to date in Colorado in order to improve quality and control costs.

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Phil Kalin Joins National Health Data Consortium Advisory Board

Phil Kalin, CIVHC CEO and President, has accepted a position on the advisory board for the "still new" national Health Data Consortium (HDC). The Consortium advocates for making public data...

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Supreme Court Upholds Health Care Law, Colorado Efforts Continue with Full Support

Key provisions of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act were substantially upheld today by the Supreme Court, including the individual mandate. With the entire ACA left intact...

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Innovation Challenge Grants Awarded in Colorado

The second and final round of CMS Health Care Innovation Challenge awardees included two new Colorado applicants - Denver Health and Southeast Mental Health Services.

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Advance Payment ACO Model: New Opportunity to Apply

CMS has announced an additional opportunity to apply for the Advance Payment ACO Model Medicare Shared Savings Program. Letters of intent are due June 29th and applications are due  September 19th.

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Voices on Value | CIVHC e-NEWS, June 2012 is Now Available

CIVHC's Voices on Value e-Newsletter is now available. Click here to view the newsletter and sign up to receive future editions!

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CMS Announces Payer Commitments for Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative

In a strong show of support for more effective, more affordable, higher quality health care, 45 commercial, federal and State insurers in seven markets today pledged to work...

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Attention Health Care Shoppers: Colorado's New Price List for Procedures

Shopping for the best price for a given health care need is nearly impossible. Unlike shopping for other big ticket items, there's no place to compare prices. Providers often can't quote a price...

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Shop and Compare for Healthcare - Colorado Public Radio Interview with Phil Kalin

Phil Kalin, CIVHC President and CEO describes how the All Payer Claims Database will allow consumers to shop around for health care services on Colorado Public Radio's Colorado Matters.

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A National Strategy for More Affordable Healthcare

Harold Miller, CEO of the Network for Regional Healthcare Improvement, discusses one of the greatest challenges that our nation will face over the next decade - reducing healthcare costs.

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Pagosa Springs, Colorado Receives $1.7 Million from CMS for Health Care Innovation Challenge

Upper San Juan Health Service District in Pagosa Springs, Colorado received one of the first 26 Health Care Innovations Challenge Awards to improve cardiac and stroke care in rural southwest Colorado.

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Voices on Value | CIVHC e-NEWS, May 2012 is Now Available

CIVHC's first edition of the Voices on Value e-Newsletter is now available. Click here to view the newsletter and sign up to receive future editions!

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$4.5 Million in Funding Secured to Support Colorado Health Care Database

Colorado’s All Payer Claims Database (APCD) – a groundbreaking tool for measuring health care costs and utilization throughout Colorado – has secured $4.5 million in joint funding...

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Colorado’s Physician Health Partners Chosen as Pioneer ACO to Improve Care, Reduce Costs

Physician Health Partners was selected as one of 32 health care organizations nationwide to be a Pioneer Accountable Care Organization by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Center.

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Western Slope Practices May be Included in New Medicaid Program

Colorado is one of four states and three regions selected to participate in a new initiative that aims to make U.S. health care more affordable and more effective.

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Colorado Selected For Major New Medicare Patient-Centered Medical Home Initiative

Commercial Health Plans and Medicaid Join Forces to Benefit Providers and Patients in Colorado.

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Why Medical Bills Are a Mystery

Rising health care costs are busting the federal budget as well as those of states, counties and municipalities. Policy makers and health care leaders have spent decades trying to figure out...
 

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Colorado Must Push for Improved Health Care System

CIVHC CEO Phil Kalin discusses the importance of continuing to push for higher value in health care regardless of the pending Supreme Court decision on reform.

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CIVHC hiring Director of Information Technology

CIVHC is looking for a Director of Information Technology to direct and manage all technology projects.

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Director of Communications Appointed

The Center for Improving Value in Health Care (CIVHC) has named Cari Frank (formerly Cari Fouts) as Director of Communications.

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CIVHC Board Chair selected for Innovation Advisors Program

Jay Want, MD, board chair of the Center for Improving Value in Health Care has been selected to be in the initial class of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Innovation Advisors Program

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Colorado's All Payer Claims Database

Colorado's APCD will aggregate de-identified claims data from private and public insurance providers in Colorado to provide comprehensive pictures of health care costs and utilization in our state.

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All Payer Claims Database Technology Contract Awarded to Treo Solutions, LLC

CIVHC is pleased to announce the award of the APCD technology contract to Treo Solutions, LLC. Treo will provide the overall technology platform, data warehouse and analytical tools for the APCD.

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Data Submission Rules Approved for All Payer Claims Database

On August 24, 2011, the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing approved the data submission rules for Colorado’s All Payer Claims Database.

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CIVHC Announces New Vice President of Strategic Initiatives

The Center for Improving Value in Health Care (CIVHC) has named Edie Sonn as vice president of strategic initiatives.

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A cure for health care

We've seen that great things can happen when different stakeholders in health care uncover common ground. While many differences remain, encouraging developments are taking shape in Colorado.

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How businesses can improve health care

Thinking of health care as an investment rather than an expense, Colorado business leaders can help ensure a healthier workforce while doing their part to the health care system.

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The Value Proposition

Quality outcomes will drive costs lower, and maximizing this equation should be the only goal we work toward. Routine discussions of how we achieve value are all but absent in our daily conversations.

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CIVHC Completes Transition to Non-profit

The Center for Improving Value in Health Care will operate wholly as a non-profit organization beginning June 1, 2011.

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Coloradans to Get Help Shopping for the Best Deal in Health Care

The All Payer Claims Database will allow consumers to compare prices for a multitude of health procedures, like having babies, heart surgeries, knee replacements, cancer treatments, and MRIs.

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Medicaid To Offer Rewards For Healthy Behavior

A federal grant program is offering states $100 million to reward Medicaid recipients who make an effort to quit smoking or keep their weight, blood pressure or cholesterol levels in check.

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Government Announces Plan to Reduce Health Disparities

In a first-of-its-kind report, the government is recommending steps to reduce health disparities.

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Dividing the Medicare Pie Pits Doctor Against Doctor

Primary-care groups continue to argue that the Relative Value Scale Update Committee results, with other elements of Medicare's fee-for-service payment system, may hurt them.


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First Wave of Commitments Allows HIE to Improve Patient Care

CORHIO announced today that the first wave of health care facilities and providers have signed agreements to electronically exchange health information on shared patients through its secure network.

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Understanding Rep. Ryan's Plan for Medicare

His overall objective is to convert Medicare into a premium support program for which the government will spend a specific amount for beneficiaries' care.

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Cuts Leave Patients With Medicaid Cards, but No Specialist to See

Under last year's overhaul, Medicaid rolls are expected to grow drastically, but budget woes have states reducing payments to caregivers.

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Arizona Asks to Set Fines for Health Risks

The state's Medicaid program would charge $50 a year for smoking or a diabetic's failure to follow a doctor's orders to lose weight.

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New ACO Rules Outline Gains And Risks For Doctors, Hospitals

Doctors and hospitals that join together under ACOs could pocket as much as 60% of the money they save Medicare...

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FAQ On ACOs: Accountable Care Organizations, Explained

ACOs have been compared to the elusive unicorn: everyone seems to know what it looks like, but no one has actually seen one.

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Health Care Reform: One Year and Thousands of Beneficiaries Later

An opinion piece by Senator Mark Udall on the one year anniversary of PPACA.

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Colorado Senate Passes Child-Coverage Mandate for Individual Health Insurers

The Colorado Senate overwhelmingly passed an industry-supported bill Tuesday mandating that insurers offering individual health policies to adults also offer them to all children.

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U.S. News Ranks Top Denver Area Hospitals

The University of Colorado Hospital topped a Denver metro list of "best hospitals" rankings released today by the U.S. News Media Group.

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Medicare Records Reveal Troubling Trail of Surgeries

Dr. Vishal James Makker had already operated on Ronald Johnson's spine six times in less than two years, but he had some grim news for the former machine-tool operator.

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Nurses to Play a Greater Role in Healthcare

Los Angeles County is expanding a program in which nurse practitioners serve as primary care providers as a way to cut costs, reduce unnecessary hospital visits and meet regulations.

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Study Finds Raising Medicare Age Would Shift Costs

Raising Medicare's eligibility age by two years would save the federal government $7.6 billion but those costs—and more—would shift to others, according to a report out today.

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Health Care Reform: Understanding the Details of the 'Individual Mandate'

One of the big health care reform battles is over a single provision in the 1,000-page law: that we must buy health insurance. And if we don't, we pay a fine.

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Telemedicine Connects Big-City Specialists and Rural Patients

On the top floor of St. John's Mercy Medical Center, doctors and nurses watch banks of video feeds, peering in on intensive care patients at rural hospitals across the Midwest.

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A Primer on Health Care Exchanges

It seems like a simple idea: Create new marketplaces, called “exchanges,” where consumers can comparison shop for health insurance — sort of like shopping online for a hotel room or airline ticket.

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Palliative Care Can Help Children And Families Navigate Bewildering Medical Terrain

About 1.3 million children live with serious or life-limiting illness and many need an interdisciplinary approach to care to help their families make sense of the maze of medical treatment.

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Colorado Moving Ahead with State Health Exchange

A bill introduced in the Senate on Monday sets up a health exchange, which is an insurance marketplace where customers can comparison shop.

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Readmission Reduction Strategies Paying Off

According to a recent New England Journal of Medicine study, preventing avoidable hospital readmissions has become a C-suite imperative.

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New Efforts to Simplify End-of-Life Care Wishes

A growing number of states are promoting POLST or MOST to help guide physicians with a patient's specific instructions.

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CBO Outlines Health Benefit Cuts Worth Hundreds of Billions

Congressional Budget Office released a list of deficit-cutting options Thursday that includes hundreds of billions in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.

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Palliative Care For Medicaid Patients Reduces Their Hospital Costs

A study of four hospitals in New York State finds that using well-established palliative care teams to coordinate the care of seriously ill Medicaid patients can save money.

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CIVHC Tackles Payment Reform, System Redesign

CIVHC brought together more than 60 stakeholders from around the state last month to develop specific consensus recommendations for payment reform and delivery system redesign.

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APCD Report Submitted to Governor and Legislature

CIVHC, the APCD Administrator, and the APCD Advisory Committee submitted their final report to the Governor and Legislature on Monday, February 28, 2011.

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State Officials Divided on Meaning of Judge's Healthcare Ruling

A day after a federal judge struck down the government's plan to overhaul the health-care

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Awaiting Health Law's Prognosis

With a court decision on Monday declaring the health care law unconstitutional thousands of Americans are facing the prospect of losing their health insurance...

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Drug Shortages Distress Hospitals

A shortage of injectable generic drugs for cancer and other serious diseases is putting pressure on hospitals...

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Program Reduces Serious Hospital Infections

A U.S. program to help make sure hospital staff maintain strict hygiene standards lowered death rates...

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States May Face Showdown With Feds Over Cutting Medicaid Rolls

Financially strapped governors, Congress and the Obama administration could be headed for a showdown...

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Jumping Into the High-Risk Pools

Health reform’s high risk pools, so far plagued with lackluster enrollment, are showing signs that they are starting to turn around...

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The CHI Letter

A quarterly letter from the Colorado Health Institute highlighting CIVHC, CORHIO and the health information exchange.

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CORHIO Awarded $1.7m Grant to Improve Care Coordination for Hospital and Long-Term Care Patients

CORHIO has been awarded $1.7 million by the Health Information Exchange (HIE) Challenge Grant Program run by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC).

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No Easy Answer for States' Medicaid Woes, Berwick Says

There is "no simple answer" for Medicaid funding problems plaguing the states as they grapple with massive budget deficits...

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House GOP Considers Privatizing Medicare

Months after they hammered Democrats for cutting Medicare, House Republicans are debating whether to relaunch their quest to privatize the health program...

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Americans Oppose Yanking Healthcare Law Funds

Most Americans do not want Congress to block funding for various new healthcare measures...

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$2.5 Billion Recovered in Health Care Fraud Cases

Federal agents recovered $2.5 billion from health care fraud judgments in the budget year that ended in September...

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Hospitals Try New Approaches To Curb Emergency Department Crowding

Katherine "Kitty" Foley hasn't missed JazzFest in New Orleans in 30 years. But last year, Foley tripped over a trailer hitch during the festivities and broke her right wrist. As a nurse, she knew...

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ACOs: Accountable Care Organizations, Explained

Accountable care organizations take up only seven pages of the massive new health law yet have become one of the most talked about provisions. This latest model for delivering...

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John Hickenlooper Becomes Colorado Governor

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper met the freezing temperatures of his inauguration with sunny optimism and a warm outreach to all office-holders Tuesday...

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Will Digital Technology Reduce Gap in Health Between Rich and Poor?

Two years ago, the Ethio American Health Center opened its doors in the nation’s capital, promising the country’s largest community of Ethiopian immigrants a place where doctors...

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Health Spending Eats Up Record Chunk of GDP

Health spending rose to a record 17.6% of the U.S. economy in 2009, as the overall economy shrank and higher federal Medicaid spending helped to push up health costs. Access thousands...

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Group Counting on Baby Boomers to Help Others Navigate Health

For a long time, Andrea Jacobs wondered how to share the expertise that comes from 17 years of living both the medical and financial challenges of Type I diabetes...

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Senate Approves Medicare Fix

The Senate — helped by a push from the White House — passed a one-year “doc-fix” late Wednesday, preventing a 25 percent cut to Medicare payments that would kick in on Jan. 1.

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Survey: Reform Law Requires More Trust Between Docs and Hospitals

The successful implementation of the new healthcare reform law will hinge on physicians and hospitals working out trust issues with one another, according to a new survey.

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Colorado Drops to 13th in Health Rankings

Colorado fell five places to 13th among states in the latest edition of America’s Health Rankings, released Tuesday morning. The 21st annual rankings...

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Unnecessary Hospital Admissions Targeted by New Payment Plan

One of six patients hospitalized in Maryland in the past year ended up back in the same facility within a month, a risky situation for them and a costly one for bill payers.

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How Medicare Pays Physicians

Medicare pays physicians for services rendered to Medicare beneficiaries according to a fee schedule that was enacted when President George H.W. Bush signed the Omnibus Budget...

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Payment reform: Health system game changer

As health care costs continue to rise, businesses and consumers are demanding better value and lower costs. Over the next decade, the rules of the reimbursement game are set to change.

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Campaign Claims: Health Law Myths And Facts

The debate that preceded passage of the health-care overhaul resumed as a heated issue in the midterm elections.

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Despite Highest Health Spending, Americans' Life Expectancy Continues To Fall Behind Other Countries'

The United States continues to lag behind other nations when it comes to gains in life expectancy, and commonly cited causes for our poor performance are not to blame.

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Issue Brief: Comparison of Provisions from Colorado’s Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Reform and Federal Health Care Reform

As the implementation of federal health care reform begins, Coloradans perhaps hold an advantage over other states...

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IHI Names Jeffrey Selberg Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) announced today that Jeffrey D. Selberg, former charter President and CEO of Exempla Healthcare in Denver, CO, will join the organization... 

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Brighton Clinic Touted as the Future of Medical Practices

With millions of people expected to join the ranks of the insured in the next few years, health care experts say doctors will...

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State's Chief Medical Officer to Become Leader of Philanthropy

Dr. Ned Calonge, who for eight years has handled flu, bioterrorism and water-contamination crises as the state's chief medical officer, is leaving to become...

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The Colorado Trust Names Ned Calonge, MD as President & CEO

Ned Calonge, MD, has been named as the new President and CEO of The Colorado Trust. Calonge currently serves as Chief Medical Officer of the State of Colorado...

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Colorado Health Foundation Recognizes Dr. Jay Want with John K. Iglehart Award

The Colorado Health Foundation honored Jay Want, M.D. with the annual John K. Iglehart Award for leadership in health care policy at the 29th annual Colorado Health Symposium in Keystone, CO...

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