Looking Forward: CMS and COPIC support local communities

Friday, May 01, 2015 12:33 PM

by CMS and COPIC staff report

When you are part of health care, there are unique opportunities outside of day-to-day operations where you can impact local communities. This is something that CMS and COPIC have recognized over the years and a responsibility that is embedded in our missions. Through these opportunities, we are able to expand our understanding of the myriad of factors that influence health care, and this helps to identify additional ways we can provide support.

Grants in health care are an essential part of funding that help drive innovation. Since 1992, the COPIC Medical Foundation has provided more than $5 million in grants. And two of the grants we provided in 2013 are emerging to influence the future of health care in positive ways.

• COPIC provided a grant to the Colorado Children’s Immunization Coalition that supported an engagement and strategic planning process to improve tracking of vaccination schedules and updates. Recently, a Board of Health hearing ended with a unanimous vote to adopt recommended immunization rule changes. Starting in 2016, the new rules require parents seeking non-medical exemptions for pre-kindergarten children to submit exemption forms at each age when recommended vaccines are due. From kindergarten to 12th grade, forms will need to be submitted annually. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment will publish immunization rates annually on its website and launch an online education module to better inform people on diseases that vaccines prevent.
• The Colorado Rural Health Center, along with researchers from the University of Denver and the Center for People of Power, received a grant to evaluate the role of community engagement skills in relation to physician retention in rural communities. The project included collaboration with the Colorado School of Medicine, with the goal of identifying community-informed curriculum for its rural track. There was a wealth of knowledge gained through this project that will be used to address rural physician retention, a critical topic in the issue of access to health care. In addition, a collection of stories by rural physicians is being compiled to share these experiences with a broader audience.

CMS supports physician leaders by identifying their needs and providing resources and education.

• The CMS Foundation and the Regional Institute for Health and Environmental Leadership coordinate the Advanced Physician Leadership Program, with funding from COPIC, the Colorado Health Foundation and the Physicians Foundation. This year-long training strengthens the ability of physicians to assume leadership roles within the profession and their communities. They conduct projects that apply and test their new and existing leadership skills, many of which address local health care issues. The first cohort graduated in March 2012 and the second cohort graduated in March 2015.
• In October 2014, CMS teamed up with the state’s top health organizations to refine statewide plans for responding to a possible case of Ebola. To assist physicians in their preparations, CMS developed an Ebola resources page on CMS.org to connect physicians to the latest resources from state and federal sources, and held a live webinar to prepare office-based physicians for a possible Ebola case by educating them on the use of personal protective equipment, triage of suspected patients, logistics of providing ongoing care, and appropriate control procedures for hazardous material handling and disposal.
• The CMS Foundation is supporting Engaged Public, a Denver-based public policy firm, with a three-year $1.1 million contract to extend its Engaged Benefit Design program statewide. Engaged Benefit Design removes financial barriers to evidence-based chronic disease care for specific services, covers patient decision aids that help patients understand their treatment choices, and provides objective information to patients to better understand the risks and limited benefits of services that in many cases are of questionable value. The grant, which was awarded in November 2013, is funding large-scale, cross-coverage demonstrations of Engaged Benefit Design through gradual implementation by the state Medicaid program, outreach to promote program adoption by Colorado employers, and community-wide implementation in the San Luis Valley.

CMS and COPIC will continue to work together to identify physician and community needs and provide funding, education, and resources to improve health and well-being.