Resources

A variety of organizations are researching the access, delivery, affordability, costs, consumers and providers of health care.  Resources from a few of them are presented below.

We believe the following resources are credible.  The links and information below come directly from the sources cited.

However, they are provided for informational purposes only, and do not represent the views of the Partnership.  If there are additional resources that you believe should be included here, please contact us.

Colorado Health Institute: Colorado's Resource for Objective Health Information

CHI's Safety Net Indicators and Monitoring System:  The "safety net" (1.14 MB pdf) is an important component of Colorado’s health care system. It consists primarily of community hospitals and public and private health care clinics whose mission is to provide care to low-income uninsured, Medicaid and Child Health Plan Plus Coloradans – roughly 25 percent of the state’s population.

CHI's The Health Professions Workforce Inventory: The inventory profiles educational programs that provide training related to 20 health professions as well as workforce initiatives that strive to increase awareness of health care opportunities. Funded by The Colorado Trust as part of its focus on increasing the number of health professionals, the inventory is designed to be a tool to increase statewide collaboration among health workforce coalitions, educational institutions and workforce development organizations.

CHI Data Center

CHI Publication Center

PricewaterhouseCoopers Health Research Institute: PricewaterhouseCoopers' Health Research Institute focuses on large scale issues and major developments and includes analysis on healthcare trends as well as key insights and industry best practices.

Behind the numbers: Medical cost trends for 2010: Even after the US economy recorded its worst contraction in a quarter-century in late 2008 and early 2009, medical costs continued to grow. The perplexing contrast of health spending growing amid a deflated general economy will present employers with unique challenges for their 2010 healthcare benefits strategies.

Key findings from the report include:

• Growth in medical costs for 2010 is expected to be 9 percent, slightly lower than in previous years
• The recession and the prospect of health reform will help temper medical costs, impacting the pricing
• As the recession pounded corporate profits in early 2009, employers surveyed said they were ready to push more of the costs of health insurance to their workers in 2010 while expecting more responsibility from workers for managing their personal health
• Although health reform will have a major impact on the industry, its effect on medical costs likely will not be felt until 2011 or later

Rock and a hard place: An analysis of the $36 billion impact from health IT stimulus funding: By injecting $36 billion in health IT through the stimulus fund, the federal government hopes to create a digital healthcare infrastructure that reduces costs and improves quality. Hospitals and physicians that want the stimulus money will find they have little choice but to comply with the new requirements or suffer future shortfalls in Medicare reimbursement.   

Health reform on the fast track: Understanding the impact of the stimulus and proposed budget on health industries. Webcast originally recorded on Wednesday, March 11, 2009 (1 hour).

Kaiser Family Foundation: A leader in health policy and communications, the Kaiser Family Foundation is a non-profit, private operating foundation focusing on the major health care issues facing the U.S., as well as the U.S. role in global health policy.  The Kaiser Family Foundation is not associated with Kaiser Permanente or Kaiser Industries.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is a home to research centers that specialize in major areas of health care research such as quality improvement and patient safety, outcomes and effectiveness of care, clinical practice and technology assessment, and health care organization and delivery systems.