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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by State: Colorado

A Community Moves Beyond the Boom and Bust
Profiles Lake County, Colorado, a winner of the 2019 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Prize. Highlights some of Lake County's efforts to actively promote health and wellness throughout the rural county.
Date: 2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
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State Strategies for Averting Early Deaths: Innovations and Best Practices for Preventing Suicide
Reports on an exchange of state-level best practices for preventing suicide. Identifies lessons learned with a focus on three categories: cross-sector collaboration; strategic partnerships including with tribal and veterans organizations; and upstream prevention efforts, including school programs. Briefly addresses challenges for rural and tribal communities. Highlights model programs from Colorado, Washington, Idaho, and Utah.
Date: 2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Governors Association
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State Innovation Models (SIM) Round 2: Model Test Annual Report Three
Third annual report on the Round 2 State Innovation Models (SIM) program across eleven participating states - Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Washington. Addresses the adoption of delivery models and payment reforms related to value-based payment (VBP) and alternative payment models (APMs). Offers an update and lessons learned on strategies to support healthcare delivery transformation related to behavioral health integration, data for improving health care quality and performance, health information technology, care coordination, and workforce development. Describes states' population health activities. Includes discussion of rural issues throughout the report.
Additional links: Findings at a Glance
Date: 2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, RTI International
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State Options for Promoting Recovery among Pregnant and Parenting Women with Opioid or Substance Use Disorder
Reports on interviews with health officials in Texas, Colorado, and Pennsylvania regarding how their states help pregnant women and young mothers with substance use disorders, focusing on opioids. Discusses Medicaid's role, funding sources of state initiatives, medication-assisted treatment, and issues for incarcerated women. Includes considerations and examples related to rural health throughout.
Author(s): Becky Normile, Carrie Hanlon, Hannah Eichner
Date: 10/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Academy for State Health Policy
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Healthy Clinic Assessments (HCAs)
Describes promising practices and the benefits of healthy clinic assessments (HCAs). Lists the goals of HCAs, and identifies emerging trends and needs based on the 98 HCAs completed at rural, frontier, and underserved urban clinics in Colorado since 2009. Covers a Critical Access Hospital case study example.
Date: 10/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Colorado Rural Health Center
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Health Services Utilization in Asthma Exacerbations and PM10 Levels in Rural Colorado
Study examining the relationship between increased air levels of particulate matter with a diameter below 10 micrometers (PM10) and the number of asthma-related emergency/urgent visits and hospitalizations (EUH) in rural Colorado. Includes average EUHs and PM10 concentrations by day of week, month, and year from 2003-2012. Provides data from a biethnic population of White and Hispanic/Latino individuals, including breakdowns by age.
Author(s): Katherine James, Matthew Strand, Mika Hamer, Lisa Cicutto
Citation: Annals of the American Thoracic Society, 15(8), 947-954
Date: 08/2018
Type: Document
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Medicaid Real-Time Eligibility Determinations and Automated Renewals: Lessons for Medi-Cal from Colorado and Washington
Explores strategies used in Colorado and Washington to increase administrative efficiencies and reduce barriers for consumers renewing enrollment in or applying for state Medicaid programs. Includes special considerations for rural populations enrolling in Medicaid. Designed to inform the thinking of California policymakers and stakeholders as they implement changes to the state's Medicaid program.
Author(s): Jane Wishner, Ian Hill, Jeremy Marks, Sarah Thornburgh
Date: 08/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Urban Institute
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Navigating Towards Health
Examines how health navigators can be incorporated into workplaces and healthcare teams. Health navigators are professionals who help people find care despite barriers, such as insurance, transportation, or finding a doctor. Discusses three critical points for integrating health navigators into the workforce and offers guidance for employers to determine the appropriate ratio of navigators to patients.
Author(s): Karam Ahmad, Alex Caldwell, Brian Clark, et al.
Date: 07/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Colorado Health Institute
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2017 Colorado Opioid Safety Pilot Results Report
Describes an opioid safety pilot study that implemented the ALTO, or alternative to opioid, approach for pain treatment in 7 urban and 3 rural hospital emergency departments in Colorado. Discusses ALTO's multifaceted treatment approach for pain management, data collection and analysis, and lessons learned.
Additional links: Pre-Launch Checklist: Using Alternatives to Opioids (ALTOs) in Hospital Emergency Departments
Date: 05/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Colorado Hospital Association
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Death by Drugs: Colorado Reaches a Record High for Overdose Fatalities. Again.
Describes county-level estimates for drug overdose death rates in Colorado from 2001 through 2016 using data from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE). Includes discussion on small counties experiencing high overdose rates, the rise of opioid overdoses and deaths, and covers policy implications.
Additional links: Full Report
Author(s): Jaclyn Zubrzycki
Date: 04/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Colorado Health Institute
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