In this blog post, we continue to highlight our HDC Affiliates. Below we hear from our Colorado Affiliate, The Center for Improving Value in Health Care (CIVHC). See what Bob Kershner, Director of Health System Payment Strategies at CIVHC, believes will create the biggest impact in health data, and then check out their HDC Affiliate page.
The Health Data Consortium is strengthened by regional affiliates working to promote the ideals of open data in health around the country. Find out more about our affiliate program. If you are interested in becoming an HDC Affiliate, please get in touch!
1. Tell us about your organization and your interest in health data.
CIVHC is a non-profit, non-partisan organization focused on supporting the Triple Aim for Colorado: better health, better care, and lower costs. To achieve the Triple Aim, it’s essential to have transparent, relevant, and comprehensive data to understand and track progress on health care spending, utilization, and quality. To that end, CIVHC administers the Colorado All Payer Claims Database (APCD), a statewide private, secure data warehouse containing claims information from both private and public health insurers. In addition, CIVHC supports other health data initiatives locally and nationally and serves as the Colorado Health Data Affiliate convener.
2. Why did you join Health Data Consortium as an Affiliate?
CIVHC joined the Health Data Consortium because its goals are directly in line with the mission and vision of our organization. Specifically, CIVHC wants to help serve as a catalyst and convener of businesses, entrepreneurs, and health care experts to identify and use data (e.g. from the APCD) to spur development of new disruptive technologies that advance Triple Aim goals. We want to identify innovators, connect them with resources and data, and integrate them with other state initiatives.
3. What insights did you get from attending this year’s Health Datapalooza?
Data alone is important, but by itself it will not drive the health care system to promote innovation. What providers, consumers, and businesses do with the data is the important element. Having the right data integrated into quality analytical tools which allow meaningful transformation of the health care purchasing and delivery system is where the biggest impact will occur.
4. What would you like to see for the health data movement in a year from now? 5 years? 20 years?
Most of the health data available now is “trapped” in silos or only available for certain segments of the market. We’ve already seen the release of more Medicare data over the last year than ever before. We would like to see the “data liberation” movement continue to grow, and to see some of the regulations limiting the use of Medicare updated to reflect a more pragmatic approach toward the availability and use of Medicare data. We would like to combine Medicare data with other payer data to be able to have a comprehensive picture of health, quality, and costs. In five to ten years, we envision that all stakeholders, from consumers to employers to providers and facilities, will have access to relevant, comprehensive, multi-payer data that will be able to inform decisions and create a robust health care marketplace focused on value.