The Colorado Trust Grants $900,000 to Center for Improving Value in Health Care for All Payer Claims Database
Media Contacts:
Julian Kesner, The Colorado Trust, 303-539-3147
Cari Frank, CIVHC, 303-903-6007
DENVER, COLO.—The Colorado Trust, a foundation dedicated to creating fair and equal opportunities for Coloradans to lead healthy lives, today announced it has made a three-year, $900,000 grant to the Center for Improving Value in Health Care (CIVHC), to aid the organization with enhancements to the Colorado All Payer Claims Database (APCD).
“We are proud to continue supporting CIVHC’s efforts to increase health care cost transparency in Colorado,” said Ned Calonge, MD, MPH, president and CEO of The Colorado Trust. “Increasing cost transparency is an important part of working towards health care that’s affordable for all Coloradans, especially those who are under- or uninsured. Affordable health care is necessary to leading a healthy life, and the APCD is an essential tool in this effort.”
Added Calonge: “The APCD is an important program that deserves full support at the state level. We are proud of our efforts to help the APCD achieve sustainability, and it’s essential that Colorado policymakers also prioritize this database as we continue work to lower health care costs.”
CIVHC will use the funding to expand the number of covered lives represented in the APCD and build tools to support organizations seeking to make a positive impact on health care quality and costs. Specific projects include collecting self-insured employer data (the largest remaining segment of the insured market not currently represented), integrating behavioral health and physical health claims to support providers with improvement initiatives, and creating an online analytic platform for organizations seeking to improve care and lower costs.
“This funding allows us to take the APCD to the next level to ensure we are maximizing the value and accessibility of this important statewide resource,” explained CIVHC’s president and CEO, Ana English. “The Trust’s generous funding directly supports our vision for the APCD to identify opportunities and drive change through trusted, actionable and comprehensive data.”
Established in 2008, CIVHC is a nonprofit organization appointed in 2010 by the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing to administer the legislatively mandated APCD. The Trust previously provided funding to CIVHC in 2010 for APCD planning; in 2011, to help identify and pursue strategies for health care quality improvement and cost containment; and in 2012, for APCD development and implementation. This latest grant will run from 2015 through 2017.
The Colorado APCD has already gained national attention for its custom data capabilities and public website that allows consumers to shop for health care services, and policy makers, researchers and others to identify variation in health care utilization and spending. As a result of Colorado’s efforts to enable consumer choice in health care, Colorado ranked among the top three states in the nation on the 2015 Report Card on State Price Transparency.
About The Colorado Trust
The Colorado Trust is a foundation dedicated to achieving health equity. The Trust believes all Coloradans should have fair and equal opportunities to lead healthy, productive lives regardless of race, ethnicity, income or where we live. The Trust focuses on policies and information related to advancing health equity, as well as projects that address health equity in partnership with communities throughout Colorado. For more information, visit www.coloradotrust.org.
About CIVHC
CIVHC (www.civhc.org) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that helps Colorado identify ways to pay for, deliver and select high-value health care. Through the pioneering Colorado All Payer Claims Database, we offer the state’s most comprehensive health care cost, quality and utilization data. We unlock information and provide tools and insights that guide meaningful action to improve health, enhance quality and lower costs. Bringing together a broad spectrum of organizations and individuals to design and drive collective change, CIVHC is devoted to a single cause: advancing an exceptional health care system for Colorado.
