An Interview with Catherine Strode

AdvocacyDenver Board Member and Self-Advocate Mitch McKinney was one of over 400 individuals to protest the proposed cuts to Medicaid in the GOP health bill in a rally held in front of Senator Cory Gardner’s downtown office. Several Colorado legislators also participated in the Medicaid Protest Rally, including State Representative Dave Young. Representative Young spoke at the rally calling the proposed cuts to Medicaid a ‘civil rights issue.’

In an interview with Catherine Strode, Representative Young who serves on the Joint Budget Committee said Colorado would not be able to accommodate the cost shift from federal to state funding.

What dangers to Medicaid are posed by the GOP health bill?

“The biggest danger is it represents a massive cost shift from the federal government to the states when it comes to Medicaid.  The state’s budget does not have the flexibility to absorb a massive cost shift like this.  It will force us to evaluate and consider every optional benefit we provide under Medicaid.  One of those is Home and Community Based Services. We know HCBS is more effective and better at controlling costs than lots of other things and results in tremendously better outcomes for people. This (bill) puts on the chopping block one of the most effective programs we have.  That’s happening because everybody’s voice is not in the room.  This bill is being crafted in secret, without hearings and without input from people. You end up with bad legislation when you do that.”

What do you mean when you say, ‘Medicaid is more than health care’?

“This is why I talk about Home and Community Based Services. Health care is a piece of that. Certainly, people with disabilities sometimes have significant health concerns that need to be addressed. But it’s not just health.  It’s housing.  It’s transportation.  It’s employment.  It’s a lot of other things that don’t necessarily fall under the narrow category of health care. We know when you help the whole person it makes a huge difference. People can be successful in the community when they get the services they need, when they need them.  That’s what HCBS does. To eliminate that, we are not just talking about eliminating a person’s health care or reducing their benefits under health care.  We’re talking about forcing them into institutional situations that don’t have good outcomes and cost a lot more.”

Why do you label this a ‘civil rights issue’?

“When you talk about what this nation is founded on, it’s not founded on forcing people into untenable situations and reducing or eliminating their independence and opportunities for life and liberty in the community.  These are really global and important foundational issues of our country. People need opportunity to be successful.  They need options.  When they are forced into a single option, it is no longer an option.  It’s just a bad outcome for them.  That cuts against every foundation of how we believe our Constitution is crafted to protect our citizens.  That’s why it is a civil rights issue.”

What is the significance of the Medicaid Protest Rallies?

“You have a community of people who are activated. You have people beginning to be recognized by the fact they are not willing to just sit back and take this. Colorado has been a leader in this over the years. It’s not every day these nonviolent demonstrations occur. When they have, they resulted in significant improvements for people with disabilities. It goes all the way back to the gang of 19  (in 1978) that laid down in front of those buses and said, ‘We’re not moving until you put lifts on these things so we have access to transportation.’ This issue is not going away.  If anything, the demonstrations are going to ramp up. It would be in Senator Gardner’s best interest to do what he’s elected to do: listen carefully to his constituency and make sure he’s making decisions that are effective. When we talk about putting HCBS at risk, that is an ineffective solution that shouldn’t even be on the table. Is it going to change the outcome of this bill?  I don’t know.  That is yet to be seen.”

Does Colorado have any options to protect Medicaid benefits?

“If this bill passes in Congress and signed into law by the President, we will be trying to come up with solutions at the state level.  We don’t have a lot of latitude.  We don’t have the kind of flexibility to contend with the kind of cost shifts that are there. We can tinker with the service delivery system and try to find some efficiencies there. We can tinker with payment reform and we may find some efficiencies there and get better outcomes and cost savings.  At the end of the day, it’s also who’s eligible, and, what benefits are available. We’re already taking steps to ensure there’s less fraud in the system.  We are focusing on that to make sure we get the best value out of our dollars we put into the system.  We’re going to have to look at all of the policy levers in Medicaid if this massive cost shift comes back to the state.  There’s no real flexibility to completely accommodate that kind of a cost shift.  It’s going to result in damage to people that none of as Coloradans wants to see.”

It has been said that if this bill passes, people will die.  Do you agree with that?

“Yes, absolutely. They will die unnecessarily. If we’re a civilized nation, we don’t let people die unnecessarily. We turned a blind eye and said, ‘No, we’re not going to pay for that.’  As a result, people are going to die unnecessarily.”

Catherine Strode is Advocacy Denver’s Communications and Policy Specialist.  She holds a Masters degree in Public Administration with an emphasis in Health Care Policy. Catherine publishes Policy Perspective, featuring interviews with state policy makers on issues that affect the work and mission of Advocacy Denver.

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An Interview with Catherine Strode

State legislators have the opportunity to offer protection from abuse to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The House has passed a bill (HB17-1284) to create a state data system of past offenders. The bill now moves on to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

State Senator Irene Aguilar, the parent of an adult child with disabilities, is one of the bill’s sponsors. In an interview with Catherine Strode, she explains why this bill is one of the most important of the legislative Session for individuals with disabilities and why it is so long overdue.

What is this bill important to folks with IDD?

“I think the statistics about how often people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are abused are really frightening. As parents looking for caregivers, we need all the help we can get to identify people who would not be good at working with a vulnerable population. I see this bill as helping to create another tool to ensure that in facilities where we know there are disproportionate numbers of people at risk, they are required to look up and ensure that the person they are hiring does not have a history of abuse. I think this is so important because it is something we’ve been after for a long time.”

Why has this bill taken so long to come forward?

“A few years ago, then Senator Evie Hudak ran a bill at the request of Attorney General John Suthers to provide protections for elderly people, who are also vulnerable. At that time, the issue was brought up about adding people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. But the finance bill on that was so high they didn’t feel they had the bandwidth to cover everyone.  People with disabilities were put on the back burner to wait their turn, if you will. The limiting force has been cost: in having the funds to create the program and the willingness to protect those funds as other priorities came forward. There’s also concern about liability on the part of employers. The concern is both for potentially reporting something before it has been fully adjudicated and for acting on information that is then found to be false. Obviously, the impact on the individual’s life on being on a list like this, or trying to get a job and having a false listing, is dramatic. It requires a high level of integrity. It has scared some people away from trying to tackle this issue.”

How would the data system CAPS (Colorado Adult Protective Services) work?

“People who have been adjudicated to have mistreated vulnerable adults would have their name and information listed in CAPS. Then people who are hiring for specified governmental and government-related entities would be required to check that system for people they are considering hiring to make sure they are not in the system. It will probably be fee based. The hiring folks would pay $16 to the state to get a report back, limited to the adult protective services database, of people identified as being at risk of abusing adults with disabilities.”

Why do you think the bill can survive this time around?

“There were multiple versions of this bill before this one was introduced. Some of it was negotiating between what was in the bill and how much it would cost to do it. It is a significant fiscal note, about $650,000. Initially, the fiscal note was in the millions. I think they did a great job of finding a point where we could at least start this process and, hopefully, build on it as time goes forward. Another thing is of note, one group that sometimes is vulnerable and gets services paid for by the government are those getting Consumer Attendant Support Services. There was concern on the part of people who get CDAS that this might have an unintended consequence, or, chilling effect on them in some of their hiring. They ended up compromising and making this optional for those folks. If they’d like to get this data, they can. If they don’t want to be part of the system, they don’t have to.”

With the price tag, can it pass under the state’s budget restraints?

“We are under the impression that we finally have the political will to allocate the resources to this important role. There are many things on the table that I do not think have the bipartisan support to get the funding they need. This (bill) does have that support. The Department of Human Services has prioritized this to have a placeholder for funds. We will have to see what happens with the ongoing and intense budget negotiations. Presuming that those do continue to move forward the way we are hopeful they will be, we do anticipate this bill being funded.”

Catherine Strode is Advocacy Denver’s Communications and Policy Specialist.  She holds a Masters degree in Public Administration with an emphasis in Health Care Policy. Catherine publishes Policy Perspective, featuring interviews with state policy makers on issues that affect the work and mission of Advocacy Denver.

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AdvocacyDenver’s Health Care Advocacy Program is offering a FREE Health Matters class from February through May, 1x a week (up to 2 hours) to community based day programs. Health Matters is an evidence based curriculum for persons with Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities (I/DD). The program focuses on becoming physically active, making health food choices, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The program offers community activities that will include visiting a local gym, picking out healthy snacks at a grocery store, attending health expos, and making healthy meal choices at a restaurant, etc. What better way to start out a healthy and happy 2017?

Health Matters is partnering with the Dahlia Center, 3401 Eudora St., classes will begin at the Dahlia Center from 10a-12pm, exact dates are negotiable dependent on the need.

If you are interested in participating, please contact Mary Sims, Wellness Educator:
303-974-2535
msims@advocacydenver.org

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Educational Advocacy is Passion for Disability Law Executive

Mary Anne Harvey began her career as a teacher in a Wyoming child care center. That work experience introduced her to children with disabilities and spawned an advocacy passion that has never left her. In the 1970’s, she began her work at what was formerly called ‘The Legal Center for People With Disabilities and Older People.’ At that time, the organization was tasked with implementing changes in the law governing special education.

Now Executive Director of Disability Law Colorado, Mary Anne says although the organization’s name has changed, its mission and its advocacy issues have not. In an interview with Catherine Strode, she says protecting children with disabilities in the educational system remains one of its ongoing advocacy efforts.

Catherine Strode is Advocacy Denver’s Communications and Policy Specialist.  She holds a Masters degree in Public Administration with an emphasis in Health Care Policy. Catherine publishes Policy Perspective, featuring interviews with state policy makers on issues that affect the work and mission of Advocacy Denver.

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Jeannie Ritter: ‘Early Intervention Key To Children’s Mental Health’

Colorado’s former First Lady Jeannie Ritter says more children are being expelled from preschool settings than high schools in the state.  This comes as advocates report seeing more significant behaviors in younger children. In the second of a two-part interview, Jeannie Ritter tells AD Policy Outreach Specialist Catherine Strode that training and early intervention may hold the key to turning around this trend.

How can we decrease the number of preschool expulsions in Colorado?

“I took a call just this morning from a public school teacher exactly on this topic.  This is really a crisis. We don’t have the training we need to support these young kids and these families in our classroom. We want to do parental education and make sure parents have some good strategies in place when challenging behaviors come along. The preschool doesn’t have the tools to deal with challenging behavior and so these young kids are expelled. That, in itself, starts this spiral. Young moms need this kind of support so they can go to work. They might choose places that don’t provide the expertise they need around some of these challenging behaviors that are exhibited by their young kids. We have a missed opportunity for parents to be engaged in learning tools to deal with that.  Help us get the message out to a broader community, to: educators, other service providers, policy makers. We want to pull some focus into these earlier interventions because the return, the chance of better outcomes, is much more enhanced if we can intervene earlier in the lives of people.”    

Why are we seeing significant behaviors in younger children?

 “We know that moms are entering the work force earlier. Before, maybe there was caregiver at home. We have a lot of movement in our nation and you find families out here, and their relatives live in Chicago.  The natural supports aren’t there. There are challenges around keeping a household running in a healthy way when we have existing behavioral health issues or challenges around finances. We’re constantly trying to look at maternity leave. This is not just a luxury.  This is actually part of the continuum which enhances or stacks the odds for healthy beginnings for moms and infants.  Then we have all the other supports: that kids have access to the right foods, access  to emotional supports in their communities. That all contributes to healthier outcomes, to kids that are ready to learn, feel safe in a learning environment and aren’t having to be hypervigilant because of what might be going on in the community. We don’t just take on one system. The win is when we coordinate those systems.”

What kinds of interventions are needed?

“One of the big challenges is advocating for infant mental health.  People have a hard time understanding how infants and frankly, in utero fetuses, are impacted by toxic stress, violence, and  anxiety that young moms have.  When I’m talking about infant mental health and working with young moms, we can take an opportunity to give parents tools for creating a predictable environment that children know is safe and enhances a child’s well-being.  The sooner we can begin to work with maternal mental health and postpartum (mental health), that’s when we get our best outcomes. That’s the best investment we can be making: supporting young families in what they need to feel better about what they do as a family.  Maybe even these parents might not feel safe in their environment. Are we talking about food and security?  Are we talking about not having access to being outside where we know that walking, feeling connected to a neighborhood, might not be a possibility if the neighborhood is not safe? How do we begin to engage people at that level and get all the systems in play that can impact those things?

What is the future ‘face’ of behavioral health?

“Technology is going to have a real impact: telehealth. I don’t mean just for rural communities.  I mean for people who are isolated, homebound, or it’s just too much for them to get across town.  Can we enhance telehealth in a way that people get services on their handheld?  MHCD is working on these telehealth strategies.   Now you can do this on your own monitor at home. The screen can be split into three compartments: a family member, your psychiatrist or primary care provider, and everybody’s talking.  This concept of integrated care, that is where there’s real hope.Your primary care doctor makes sure there’s a behaviorist on site. We’re in over 60 sites across the city in primary care settings. We can make sure folks get access if they’re not coming through our traditional doors. That’s the new face of mental health.”

Second of A Two-Part Interview 

Missed the First Part?  Click here for Jeannie Ritter’s Discussion of the Importance of Early Childhood Intervention

Catherine Strode is Advocacy Denver’s Communications and Policy Specialist.  She holds a Masters degree in Public Administration with an emphasis in Health Care Policy. Catherine publishes Policy Perspective, featuring interviews with state policy makers on issues that affect the work and mission of Advocacy Denver.

The post Jeannie Ritter: ‘Early Intervention Key To Children’s Mental Health’ [Part 2] appeared first on AdvocacyDenver.

Former First Lady Jeannie Ritter Embraces Mental Health Advocacy

Colorado’s former First Lady, Jeanne Ritter, is actively involved in efforts to improve behavioral health services in the state. As Mental Health Ambassador for the Mental Health Center of Denver, she establishes alliances within the mental health community and works to reduce duplication of efforts. Mental Health is an issue she passionately adopted as First Lady. In this two-part interview with Policy Outreach Specialist Catherine Strode, she says her passion for the issue has undergone change.

From where do you draw your passion for mental health advocacy?

“I used to answer that question by stating that I have an older sister that has a bipolar diagnosis and from the impact that had on our family. Now, I have changed that answer to include all of us. It’s not really about one person in my family having a mental health issue. It’s about everyone in my world (family members, neighbors, coworkers), all of us including myself where behavioral health intersects in our lives. Anxiety, substance use, depression, as well as other severe diagnoses. We all move in a world where that is our community and that’s where the passion comes from.”

As Mental Health Ambassador, what movement are you seeing in the field?

“There are so many efforts going on in terms of behavioral health. I get to participate in a lot of conversations and, hopefully, move work forward. I have a really great 30,000 foot view to see what the efforts are going on out there. Where could we link efforts and really expand? I work across the spectrum on everything from early childhood, infant mental health, all the way to initiatives that have to do with chronically homeless folks that need supports and housing. I say, ‘all roads lead to mental health.’ Regardless of what outcome you’re working towards, whether it’s obesity, grade level reading, employment, or cardiac efforts, people are beginning to realize you can’t get there without walking through the doors of a behavioral health conversation. Everybody’s on board. It’s an integrated approach. It’s an inclusive approach. It’s an all person approach. We no longer look at mental health as this stand alone; we see it as a component to the overall health and well-being of a person.”

 Have recent violent societal events changed the dialogue among mental health professionals?

“The dialogue is always in the keeping of what we always say which is, ‘let’s make sure we have trauma informed services.’ We try to be a resource to the community. I have a colleague that works at CDPHE (Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment) and he made sure I knew there are supports for the trauma reporters are experiencing even in the reporting of these events. The key word here would be trauma. We know that trauma exists and we know what the byproducts of trauma are. How do we get earlier interventions in place and get folks to realize, whether they’ve been witnesses, part of the community, or working in any setting, it impacts all of us? It is not something we’re crafting. It’s absolutely real. What do we have as things that can help us build our own resiliency? What are the mechanisms we can call upon for our own calming so we build this collective, protective shield around us? What do we have in place to help us be protective in the future? A lot of us hope to cultivate those practices within the community where people are calling upon natural supports, building on natural supports, learning how to be a support to one another. Learning how we harness those tools to mitigate negative impacts and build that protective shield. Especially with children. Our children are exposed. It’s on the radio, it’s on the TV.”

What is the Mental Health Center of Denver doing to support children’s mental health?

“We have a robust infant mental health program here, as well as early childhood. Beginning with what they call the ‘DYAD”. It’s working with the two: the caregiver and the infant. Restoring that protective shield, or creating it if it never existed, for the mom. Some folks, due to trauma in their earlier lives, maybe they have behavioral health challenges, maybe they live in unsafe environments, that is not always in place. There’s a lot of tension. We know infants feed off of that tension. That starts this negative spiral. We don’t have to wait until there’s a full blown crisis. When we can work with our primary care doctors, our delivery doctors, we might know she’s going to have some challenges. Let’s put these supports in place. Let’s stack the odds for a healthy caregiver infant relationship. If we need to, we keep that going where families may have experienced trauma or witnessed violence. Little children that have witnessed, and sometimes not even witnessed but they were in their crib, are absolutely impacted by the trauma that happened in that household. Capturing and intervening with those families – that’s all very exciting.”

First of A Two-Part Interview Series

Next Issue: Jeannie Ritter Discusses Importance of Early Childhood Intervention

Catherine Strode is Advocacy Denver’s Communications and Policy Specialist.  She holds a Masters degree in Public Administration with an emphasis in Health Care Policy. Catherine publishes Policy Perspective, featuring interviews with state policy makers on issues that affect the work and mission of Advocacy Denver.

The post Former First Lady Jeannie Ritter Embraces Mental Health Advocacy [Part 1] appeared first on AdvocacyDenver.

How do Community Gardens affect our Community Health?

Read Catherine Strode’s interview with Michael Buchenau of Denver Urban Gardens to find out!

 

Community Gardens Sow Community Health Benefits An Interview with Catherine Strode Michael Buchenau, MLA Executive Director, Denver Urban Gardens For the past 20 years, Denver Urban Gardens has helped design, build, and sustain an expanding network of 150 community gardens throughout Metro Denver. This year DUG has 12 new garden projects underway in Metro Denver and is offering technical assistance to other community garden projects around the state. In an interview with Catherine Strode, Executive Director Michael Buchenau says research shows community gardens have the potential to affect community health in urban settings. What is the concept behind community gardens? “All of the community gardens we support are initiated within the community. The purpose of a community garden is varied for each group that we support. They can range between a garden to educate children around science, health and culture, to a garden for seniors that is primarily meant to keep folks connected to each other and to keep them active. A lot of our gardens are neighborhood based, in which communities are using the garden to establish some neighborhood stewardship and neighborhood attachment. A lot of gardens are a combination of all of those things with a particular emphasis on one or the other. The venue for any one of those things to be happening is the activity of growing food together.” How do community gardens promote health? “The research findings from the Colorado School of Public Health (Primary Investigator Dr. Jill Litt) have shown what we intuitively knew about community gardens. When folks have decided this is a project they want to take on themselves, they have a collective will and a collective purpose. Together as a group they tend to own the project and it becomes a part of their daily lifestyle. That collective will piece is super important as a pathway towards health. It is this social organizing around the garden. Folks have to work together and come up with ideas together. The social structure that gets developed includes: peer support, peer learning, peer pressure to stay involved in the garden, to show up at the garden when everyone is going to be there. That social structure is another pathway toward sustained health. Then, there’s the basic activity of developing a relationship with nature. That combined with the social piece, and the collective will that the project is yours, work together to create this pathway to improve behavior around eating healthier and being more active. That’s how it promotes health.” Are you saying gardens promote health by promoting community involvement? “Totally. There are other factors that have been studied over the years that show a definite place attachment with gardens. People get more connected to their neighborhood. They get more involved. They know their neighbors. They know what’s going on with anybody that might be struggling with something and needs help. They feel like they’re more supported, both as a gardener and just in general, by having all of these connections. Community gardeners have a higher place attachment to their neighborhoods than general residents who don’t garden from the research findings. That sense of support you get from being involved in the garden: that other people care about you, know what’s going on in your life, and are there for you if there are some challenges you are facing.” What is the data on physical health benefits of gardening? “The findings from the research of the Colorado School of Public Health show that gardeners eat twice as much fruit and vegetable servings as the average resident. They report less days in poor health than the average resident. They have a flat age to body mass index graph. Whereas, for the average resident it’s on a 45 degree angle; as you age you’re going to gain weight. Gardeners don’t. There are a lot of health indicators that they’re healthier folks because of this activity they participate in. It becomes part of their daily activity. It’s in their everyday landscape and it’s just part of their life.” What is the data on the mental health benefits? “If you look at Dr. Litt’s research findings from the surveys and interviews, a lot of folks report that they garden because it ‘makes them feel good.’ To the point where you hear some folks say things like, ‘It’s one of the only places where I have control over my addiction.’ Or, ‘It’s a place where I go to get a stress reliever;’ ‘It’s a place where I know I’m accepted;’ It’s a place where I people will listen to me and I connect after a stressful day.’ Especially in low-income communities, where folks are dealing with serious challenges constantly: eviction potentially, someone in the family’s been incarcerated, addictions, violence. These places become places of respite for people and they’re doing something positive for their families and for themselves. They’re being productive but it’s also a place of rest and buffering out all those other challenges they’re facing when they go home. ”

2015 Membership Meeting Thursday, October 8th Randolf’s 5:30pm – 7:00pm For more information please call 303-831-7733 Health Disparities and Intellectual Disabilities, Vol 48. International Review of Research in Developmental Disabilities: International Review of Research in Developmental Disabilities is an ongoing scholarly look at research into the causes, effects, classification systems, and syndromes of developmental disabilities. Contributors come from wide-ranging perspectives, including genetics, psychology, education, and other health and behavioral sciences. – Provides the most recent scholarly research in the study of developmental disabilities – A vast range of perspectives is offered, and many topics are covered – An excellent resource for academic researchers  More information  Colorado DD Council Presents:Lydia Brown From Rights to Justice: Disability and Radical Inclusion Please join us October 22nd from 9 am-Noon Mi Casa Resource Center 360 Acoma St, Denver, CO 80223 Lydia Brown is an autistic and multiply-disabled activist, whose work has focused on violence against people with disabilities who have multiple minority identities. Please RSVP to Lionel Llewellyn: Lionel.llewellyn@state.co.us or at 720-941-0176 A New Road Forward: How Hospital, Public Health and Stakeholder Collaboration has Changed the Community Health Landscape Register HereImmigration Eligibility and Application Process Trainings Coming Up! October 21, 2015 12:30 to 2:00 PM Eastern / 9:30 to 11 AM Pacific time -OR- November 19, 2015 2:00 to 3:30 PM Eastern / 11 AM to 12:30 PM Pacific time Register Here 720-941-0176 Swedish demands $400 ‘deposit’ from amputee at ER Read Story Here Women With Disabilities Tackle Reproductive Health Read Story Here

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Join ADVOCACYDENVER at the Denver Broncos’ FREE Health and Wellness EXPO over Labor Day Weekend! Saturday and Sunday, September 5-6, 9am to 3pm at Sports Authority Field at Mile High Stadium.

ADVOCACY DENVER Joins the Denver Broncos to Support Health EXPO An interview with Dennis Moore by Catherine Strode ADVOCACYDENVER will be participating in the Denver Broncos’ premiere Health and Wellness EXPO over Labor Day Weekend. The EXPO is a first for the Broncos, who are pairing up with UCHealth, to impact the health and well-being of their fans statewide. It began with the recent renaming of their Training Center and is extending to a long-term health campaign. The EXPO, held at Sports Authority Field, will feature free medical screenings provided by UCHealth. ADVOCACYDENVER’s booth will feature: demonstrations of modified exercise, healthy snacks, and exercise videos. In an interview with Catherine Strode, Broncos Vice President of Sales and Marketing Dennis Moore says the EXPO is only the beginning of many future Broncos’ large scale health events. How was the vision of this partnership created? “The vision of it goes back quite a ways in terms of the Broncos’ internal conversations.  We’ve been working down this path around what role can we play in the health and wellness of our fans? Obviously, we’re a football team so that effort can only go so far. Who we partner with in the health care space is a critical component in us making a positive impact in health and wellness.  We’ve articulated our vision. What we want to accomplish is, at some point in the future, being able to say we have the healthiest fan base in the NFL.  That’s a big goal but we felt great synergy with the leadership team at UCHealth and how they want to take a leadership stance in health and wellness.  By combining what the Broncos’ brand and our fan base bring, with their expertise in health and wellness, we had a partnership that can start to look pretty special in what we do and how we go about starting to make a positive impact for our fans and anybody who lives in Colorado.” Are you using the renaming of the training facility to launch the health and wellness campaign? “The renaming of our training center to ‘UCHealth Training Center’ is very much a symbolic part of a partnership that has many tentacles beyond the naming rights of our training center.  That is obviously the one that we led with because it’s going to get the most publicity. That is a significant asset for bringing attention to UCHealth and to our partnership but that is not the ‘meat of the bone’, if you will. That is the public dynamic to it. The majority of the health and wellness work, and how we’re going to partner on a lot of these initiatives, is going to be done through events. We’re going to be doing health and wellness digital challenges where we will be asking our fans to sign up and do daily activities to earn points and compete against each other in health and wellness challenges. Although the facility and the naming rights brings the most significance in terms of awareness to UCHealth, that is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the programming and activations we’ll be doing with UCHealth.” Is the health and wellness campaign focusing on one specific physical condition? “With all of the service lines that UCHealth supports, it would be unfair to rule anything out at this point because we’re so new into the partnership. Their organization is learning a lot about us and what are passion points for the Broncos’ organization in terms of those issues. We would like to get involved in: Breast Cancer awareness, or Alzheimer’s, or domestic violence.  I think all of those things, even football specific – concussion awareness – and what that means to the vitality of football, are on the table.  As we get this partnership off the ground, it is less about one particular issue. More than anything right now, it’s how do our two organizations start to make a wide canvas across our state and bring more awareness to overall health and wellness platforms.  How do we get somebody who is making unhealthy decisions get off the couch and start leading an active lifestyle? How do we get families to start paying attention to healthier recipes?  How do we start to institute some workout programs and allow our fans to compete against each other?  How do we create an impact that is year-round and not singularly focused on one event but really is tailored to create an impact throughout the course of the year? We are bringing our players, our cheerleaders, our dieticians, our athletic trainers, to the table where people are paying attention because it’s the right talent delivering the right content.” Who are you targeting in this health and wellness campaign? “It is not focused on 53 players but focused on our millions of fans.  If we can enable 500 fans to get screened, that ordinarily would not get screened, that’s what the partnership is all about:  early detection and wellness exercises. It is providing access and motivation and education to our entire fan base. It’s designed to get the messaging out to as many of our fans as possible, whether they’re in our seats, or whether they never come to our games. The focus is how do we touch as many people as possible.”

Come meet the Broncos and the Broncos Cheerleaders! EVENT INFO: Saturday, September 5 and Sunday, September 6 9:00 am to 3:00 pm Sports Authority Field at Mile High Stadium FREE TO THE PUBLIC Get more info here! AdvocacyDenver’s Health Care Advocacy Program will have a booth at the EXPO. Stop by for some fun activities! Healthy Snack Buffet Adaptive Exercises Health and Wellness Jeopardy

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Elizabeth Arenales, attorney with the Colorado Center on Law and Policy discusses the future of the Colorado health care system with Catherine Strode.  Read more in HCAP’s latest Policy Perspective here:

Colorado’s Future Health Care System: ‘A Work In Progress’ an interview with Elisabeth Arenales by Catherine Strode   As a recipient of the State Innovation Model grant, Colorado is playing a strong role in determining how health care might look in the future. Focused on integrating care and payment reform, the grant is one of many projects underway in the state targeting health care reform.  In an interview with Catherine Strode, one of Colorado’s experts in health care policy, Attorney Elisabeth Arenales with the Colorado Center on Law and Policy, offers her opinion as to where Colorado is headed.  CS: What kinds of health innovation trends are we seeing in Colorado? “We’re seeing a lot of conversations about payment and delivery system reform. Those are taking shape in a variety of ways both on the public side and the Medicaid program, and, on the private side. On the Medicaid side, we’ve seen the Accountable Care Collaborative focused initially on delivery system reform and building towards payment system reform. Those two pieces have to work in tandem. You’ve got to know what outcome you want before you fully develop and adopt a model for payment reform. We’re also seeing some interesting things happen with respect to the demonstration project for full benefit Medicare and Medicaid enrollees. Colorado has gotten approval for a demonstration grant to coordinate care for people in both programs. That’s a very significant step forward in terms of delivery system reform. Those two systems, both very large, have never intentionally carved out the opportunity for states to try and work with both programs in a coordinated way to improve care and outcomes for those enrollees. There are other potentials for innovation. Colorado has been exploring a Community First Choice grant, a new opportunity under the Affordable Care Act that allows states to be innovative in the way they approach the delivery of services for people who are living in the community who are in need of long-term care. We’re in the process of developing a program.” CS: What is the future of payment reform? “What we’re seeing is delivery system reform and then payment reform following that, or being used as an incentive, to make sure the delivery system reform is working correctly. Colorado Medicaid is operating under a fee-for-service delivery system for physical health and a managed-care program for behavioral health. There are multiple conversations and smaller projects going on that are exploring other models and ways of paying for health care. House Bill 1281, which gave Health Care Policy and Financing the authority to run a pilot program that used a different payment model, is in progress. It’s a global payment model that’s being run by Rocky Mountain Health Plans. The State Innovation Model grant is also looking at a range of models of incenting the integration of care. I think it’s important to think of payment reform, in some ways, as the last step in the process. You’ve got to figure out: what kind of outcomes you’re looking for, how to structure a program in order to get those outcomes, and then how to pay for that program. From our perspective, we want to make sure the incentive structure that is set up in any reformed health care system is really focused on measuring quality and outcomes: ensuring patients get the right care, at the right time, in the right way. We need to pay attention to those things were trying to incent but also to those things that may be unintended consequences of the models we’re trying, so we have a clear picture of what’s working and what’s not as we move forward.” CS: What health care market changes are we seeing? “We’re seeing a lot going on in terms of mergers and consolidation of practices. We’re seeing the five largest national insurance companies looking at acquisitions. Market watchers are thinking those five large companies are likely to be three large companies in fairly short order. That’s a significant change in the way the marketplace is structured. In Colorado, we’re seeing a lot of practice consolidation. There are any number of potential reasons for that ranging from the need to realize greater efficiency, the need to respond to the cost and incorporation of health information technology requirements, to the need to position practices so that they can maintain the ability to negotiate on a reasonably level playing field with insurance carriers. Other states that have examined the drivers of healthcare costs, did conclude with studies that were done in those states, that market power and position are one of the key drivers of costs. These are all things we ought to be aware of as we think about where health care is moving in Colorado. Consolidation can bring beneficial things in that it can incent efficiency, practice integration, and better communication. It can also drive costs. We are going to have to watch for what happens here.” CS: Is Colorado a leader in health care innovation? “Colorado has been at the forefront of states that have gotten a lot of opportunities to try different innovation models. I know CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) is looking very carefully at Colorado’s full benefit Medicaid and Medicare demonstration project because we are unique in the way we have approached that project. Most states are going with capitated managed-care. We have a managed fee-for-service model. How Colorado does may tell a tale that CMS is quite interested in, in terms of how states might proceed in the future. We have a lot more transparency. As we start to get more data that helps us understand how some elements of our system are working, and, what the cost of those elements are, that’s going to help us even more to determine what policy direction we want to take. I think we’re in the midst of a very transformative period. I don’t think we know what the end result looks like yet. It’s a work in progress.”

Wellness Committee This committee is working towards sharing success and struggles in providing wellness opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We meet every other month in the AdvocacyDenver office. Interested? Find out more and sign up HERE. NEXT MEETING:    September 16th 1:00-2:00 PM The HCAP team was in Keystone last week attending The Colorado Health Symposium.  Click here to see more.   Sibling Tips by National Arc –HERE Family Support Research –HERE PCPs Struggling with Metrics Impact – HERE

Catherine Strode is Advocacy Denver’s Policy Outreach Specialist.  Formerly Coordinator of the Health Care Advocacy Program, she holds a Masters degree in Public Administration with an emphasis in Health Care Policy. Catherine publishes Policy Perspective, featuring interviews with state policy makers on issues that affect the work and mission of Advocacy Denver.

The post Health Care Advocacy News – August 2015 appeared first on AdvocacyDenver.

Dr. Corry Robinson has built a legacy of leadership at JFK Partners.

Legacy of Leadership for JFK Partners’ Former Director For the past 22 years, Dr. Corry Robinson has served as Director of JFK Partners, an interdepartmental program of Pediatrics and Psychiatry at the CU School of Medicine.   In this role, she has been providing leadership as a clinician, researcher, and educator in the fields of Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities and Autism Spectrum Disorders in children. At the end of June, Dr. Robinson stepped down from the JFK Directorship, although still continuing in her academic appointment work and her work as Principal Investigator on some JFK Partners federally funded grant projects.  In an interview with Catherine Strode, Dr. Robinson looks back on what she believes to be her major accomplishments and how she envisions the future direction of these fields of study.   What do you feel have been your greatest accomplishments? “Early intervention has been my primary interest over the years.  The ENRICH early intervention program is a model we got federal funding for initially and then continued under the Part C (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, children birth to 3) funding here in Colorado.  It takes a transdisciplinary approach to the intervention with the families. A big emphasis is on showing parents what they can do to incorporate intervention into daily routines. That’s different from maybe kind of the standard individual physical, occupational, speech therapy that kids get under Part C.  The ENRICH model looks at assigning a primary person to work with the family so they are not getting potentially conflicting input from different people. As part of the program, we did what I called reunion videos, following up with the families 15 or 20 years later.  It was really gratifying to hear the parents articulate exactly what our goals were with the intervention: to build their confidence that they could have a family life.” Besides early intervention, what other contributions are you most proud of? “The work we’ve been doing on the dual diagnosis. The pilot bill passed. For the pilot, they have to get all the various agencies together and agree to collaborate and provide the services and then chase the funding. It should give us an opportunity to have the agencies figure out how to break down those silos and bring funding together. The premise is you take a look at the presenting person: what do they need? do they need to be out of the home for a while or can supports be provided in-home to stabilize the situation? Then the agencies figure out who’s responsible to pay. The Mental Health Centers don’t necessarily feel like they’ve got that knowledge when it’s someone with a significant intellectual disability. For 20 years, they’ve basically been able to say, ‘We think the anxiety is due to the autism, or due to the intellectual disability, so it’s not really our problem.’ They don’t feel they have the personnel and so they don’t reach out to provide those services.” What does the data show on family interventions?  “The evidence used to argue for early intervention comes from intervention with more at-risk kids rather than kids with significant disabilities. It’s only until recently, with all the work on autism, where there’s actual data that says with intensive intervention you can really make a difference.  Even with autism we can’t predict really who’s going to benefit from that intensive intervention but we’re making progress. One of the sad things to me about early intervention is this big move to autism.  Any child with significant delay could benefit from intensive intervention.  It’s been a huge political force. We passed a law (IDEA) that says everyone who is eligible gets early intervention.  It’s a very confused landscape.  Every state gets to set its own definition of who’s eligible. Across the states, there are 22 different definitions of who is eligible. Some say you have to be two standard deviations below (the means.). Some don’t talk in terms of standard deviations, which is the metric that academics would want to see in place. Some say percent of delay, which is not a good sound metric in terms of having a consistent documentation. At any rate, it’s all over the map. The percentage of children served is all over the map as well. Here in Colorado, I think we’re a little bit over 3%.  You’ve got Georgia that was serving less than 1%; and Massachusetts that does serve at risk kids up at like 6 or 7%. How can you make statements about the effectiveness of the intervention when you’ve got things all over the map in terms of who actually gets in?  We do know that children of color, poor kids are less likely to get into Part C.  The bar that was set by the feds for expected enrollment was 2%. Most states were serving at least that percentage so no one has the incentive to really dig down into their data and look at who is being served because they’re meeting that bar. We found that based upon your normal curve distribution, you’d expect more like 15% of kids to be eligible. What I would argue is you need to look at how you define eligibility, the percentage you’d expect to see eligible, and if you’re not reaching that percentage, you need to drill down and see who you’re missing.” What collaborations do you feel are needed to further the impact of your work? “One of the things we’ve seen over the past year is a lot more communication between the Alliance and the Behavioral Health Association.  When we started the gap project, we went to both associations and we said we want to do this and we want these local meetings jointly convened by mental health and the community center boards. They agreed.  What’s really going to make the difference is as the funding changes and there really is incentive to work together.” What is your vision for the future of this work? “Where everything is going in terms of medicine and long-term services and supports is integration across physical and behavioral health. When you’ve got someone with an intellectual disability, I don’t think there’s real strong relationships to primary care that there needs to be. We have to really pay attention to developing personnel.  There are lots of psychologists but not many that feel comfortable with this population. In the training we do here, through our leadership education grant, multiple disciplines come together.  There could be more collaboration between higher education and the community center boards. I’d love to see more of a career ladder go into place so people could get tuition forgiveness or some kind of support to work in this field while they’re in in college.”

REMINDER: Wellness Committee July 15th 1:00 to 2:00pm We will discuss areas the workgroups want to focus on, past two committee meetings, and future guest speakers  Oral Health Colorado is hosting a workshop on current research and policies in the field. MORE HERE The Colorado Trust is hosting a “Health Disparities” Series MORE HERE Dialogue4Health is hosting a Web Forum on Food Changes in Restaurants and Hospitals to improve nutrition! MORE HERE

The post Health Care Advocacy News – July 2015 appeared first on AdvocacyDenver.