What We Do

For too long, we’ve been operating within a fragmented health care system – one that separates payment from value, individuals from their community, mental health from physical health, and health care from public health and social services. Fragmented systems and disconnected policies lead to clinical, operational, and financial barriers to achieving health and well-being. A coordinated effort in policy and practice to align sectors and integrated care is needed to reduce costs, improve access, and attain equitable health outcomes. We partner with state and local stakeholders and decision makers to transform systems for integrating care. Projects include:

• Facilitation of three subcommittees and developing recommendations for the Colorado Behavioral Health Task Force
• Provision of technical, adaptive, and leadership assistance to Virginia, Oregon, and Idaho to advance their integrated care efforts
• Development of COVID-19, case-based playbook for rural hospitals and rural primary care practices to help them solve a variety of pandemic-related problems they may face, including staffing, supplies, communication, and clinical care challenges

We envision the country as a vast mosaic of communities, rich in cultural identity and powerful in their diversity. Community-based policy and research harness diverse cultural assets to achieve greater equity in health and to drive progress that addresses power differentials entrenched in structure and policies, explicitly racism and stigma. Listening to and learning from communities allow us to serve as partners to elevate local policy priorities to inform action. Our work in prevention and well-being takes a broad view on health, occurs in a variety of settings, and is in service to communities that are key to preventing health problems and promoting well-being so that every individua; lead a healthy and fulfilling life. Work in this area includes:

• Assisting community collaborative groups to prevent mental, emotional, and behavioral health problems in youth
• Convening members of the medical and legal communities to inform local partnerships to address social and legal needs

Health is determined and influenced by far more than health care services. Understanding that social and environmental factors define access, availability, and culturally specific and responsive care; we consider social policies essential lever for improving health and addressing health equity. Projects include:

• Partnering with Cleo Parker Robinson Dance to create an Arts Alliance for Health Equity, engaging diverse leaders and organizations to develop arts advocates for health equity to drive public policies that support social and emotional wellbeing and connectedness
• Analyzing child welfare agency data and Medicaid data to understand the health care cost and utilization by children and youth in foster care, frequency of foster care placement changes on healthcare cost, and utilization outcomes for foster care youth
• Piloting the provision of medical legal services through a telehealth model in two primary care clinical sites, conducting an economic analysis, and evaluating the impact on health equity
• Providing information to help medical and mental health providers identify eligible cases, refer asylum seekers to legal services, and access trainings to increase the number of trained clinicians providing medical and mental health forensic examinations
• Presenting evidence-based opportunities to strengthen gun safety legislation to protect Colorado youth from suicide, homicide, and accidental gun death