CALPHO e-news: February 2017

e-news     February 2017   HCPF Launching New Provider Claims Payment System This Week The Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF) is launching a new claims system, called Colorado interChange, for processing payments for services rendered on behalf of Health First Colorado (Colorado’s Medicaid program) and Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+) members. All this week, they are hosting live webinars for providers and stakeholders: Dates: Tuesday, February 28, Wednesday, March 1, Thursday, March 2, and Friday, March 3, 2017 Time: 10- 10:45 AM Call In Number: 720-279-0026 or 877-820-7831 Call In Code: 815942# HCPF asks that when possible, counties with multiple participants please use one call in line to make lines available to other counties. Kudos & Accolades invisible text Karen Koenemann to Lead New Pitkin County Public Health Agency Pitkin County began forming its new public health department last year. Community Health Services, the Aspen-based nonprofit that has been Pitkin’s official LPHA since the 1970’s, also provides direct health services to the community. Community leaders recognized that having a separate public health department would not only allow CHS to better accommodate rising demand for its services, it would also strengthen the county’s capacity for addressing evolving public health needs. Karen starts as Pitkin County’s Public Health Director today, February 28. She is excited about the new role, calling it “an incredibly unique opportunity to build a public health agency from the ground-up. Using basic principles from the white paper “Public Health 3.0: A Call to Action to Create a 21st Century Public Health Infrastructure” (which focuses on cross-sectoral environmental, policy, and systems-level actions that directly affect the social determinants of health and advance health equity), we can start at 3.0, instead of trying to move an existing agency from 2.0 to 3.0.” Congratulations, Karen, and best of luck ! invisible text TCHD Says Farewell to Tom Butts, Hello to Jennifer Ludwig After 30 years at Tri-County Health Department, Tom Butts retired this month from his position as deputy director. In addition to being a leader in his own agency, Tom Butts played an active role in the state-wide public health community, including serving two years as co-chair of CALPHO’s Policy Committee. He plans to stay involved with the Colorado Environmental Health Association. Join us in thanking Tom for his many contributions to Colorado public health! Filling Tom’s role is Jennifer Ludwig, who transitioned from her position at Eagle County Public Health, where she served as director for 6 years. Jennifer also serves on CALPHO’s Executive Committee as past-president. Join us congratulating Jennifer on her new role as deputy director! Health Equity invisible text CALPHO Considers Health Equity in Policy Advocacy The legislative season is in full swing, and as always CALPHO is monitoring, supporting, or opposing various bills and budget decisions with public health impact. As we continue adopting a “health equity lens,” CALPHO Policy Committee Members are increasingly considering the health equity implications of legislation and budget items. Here are a few examples of that where CALPHO has taken a supporting position: CDPHE Budget – Healthy Kids Colorado Survey This survey provides a better understanding of “youth health and what factors support youth to make healthy choices,” according to CDPHE. Such data collection can reveal how social and environmental factors interact with existing health disparities, which is key to developing public health interventions and evaluating their impact on health and health equity. HB17-1116 Continuation of Low-income Household Energy Assistance: This bill extends funding for the state’s energy assistance program, which provides a range of services including weatherization, boiler repair/replacement, and heating bill assistance to low-income households. In addition to helping families save money on energy costs, these services can impact health outcomes like asthma, carbon monoxide poisoning, and heatstroke. SB17-121 Improving Medicaid Client Correspondence: This bill requires HCPF to engage in an ongoing process to improve correspondence to Medicaid clients. Understandable, timely, and clear communications are critical to the health of Medicaid clients, and can be a matter of life and death for the most vulnerable populations. Unclear or erroneous correspondence can interrupt access to critical health care services. invisible text CCMU Releases 1st Chapter of Health Equity Graphic Novel The Colorado Coalition for the Medically Underserved (CCMU) just released the first chapter of its new graphic novel, Waiting for Health Equity. CCMU has been working on this project for two years now, thinking about how best to focus attention on the root causes of health disparities, and gathering input from some stellar health equity leaders as well as Coloradans living these issues. CCMU is part of The Colorado Trust’s Health Equity Cohort and as such is a key CALPHO partner. The graphic novel is part story, part data dissemination, and part historical perspective. The hope is that it will be a tool for launching new discussions and challenging our own perspectives and privilege. One chapter will be released each week from now until April 5. Check out the first chapter here. invisible text Know a Health Equity Systems Change Champion? Nominate Them! The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is sponsoring a National Civics League award to recognize those who have made commendable progress in advancing systems change "to improve health outcomes for those most impacted by health disparities." Individuals or a team of individuals made up of two people are eligible, and winners will be honored at National Civic League’s annual All-America City Award event and will receive $3000. Learn more and nominate someone here. Spotlight on Local Public Health invisible text Check Out the Healthy Beverage Partnership's Hidden Sugar Toolkit The Healthy Beverage Partnership (HBP) recently launched their Hidden Sugar campaign, which seeks to reveal the unexpected levels of sugar found in many popular beverages. The traditional and social media campaigns were launched in January with short messages and infographics, including a very compelling image showing how many cookies you would need to equal the amount of sugar in certain popular "fruit" and soda beverages. To accompany the media campaign, the HBP has produced a toolkit with easily-adaptable and sharable communications resources. They are also asking partners to use these resources to engage the parents and caregivers of children ages 0-6, aiming to impact a key factor contributing to childhood obesity. Access the toolkit here, and learn more about the entire campaign here. invisible text CCMU Launches Campaign to Reduce Barriers for Immigrant Driver's Licenses The Colorado Coalition for the Medically Underserved (CCMU) launched this initiative, called the “I Drive Campaign” to address “increasing barriers for immigrants without documentation to obtain driver's licenses in Colorado.” These barriers are growing despite a 2013 law allowing undocumented immigrants to apply for licenses. CCMU stresses that the freedom to move is central to health, including transportation to appointments, finding healthy food options, and expanding physical activity options for kids. CCMU is seeking endorsements from their partners and local public health agencies, and will soon be introducing legislation. Learn more about I Drive in this whitepaper, and use this endorsement form to provide your support. News from NACCHO 2017 NACCHO Annual All About Connecting Health Care and Public Health The Annual, taking place July 11-13 in Pittsburgh, is the only national conference dedicated to local public health leaders and practitioners. This year’s theme is “Public Health Revolution: Bridging Clinical Medicine and Population Health.” The conference will be focused on the tactics, leadership, engagement tools, and data systems that support collaborative population health improvement between all health stakeholders. Register before June 9 to get the early bird rate! invisible text NACCHO Releases 2016 Annual Report The report summarizes the association's significant accomplishments last year. In 2016, NACCHO advanced the work of local health officials and their staffs by studying local public health capacity, highlighting innovation, advocating for public health priorities, and connecting its members to improve public health practice. Read the report here. Highlights from our Partners invisible text Registration Now Open for RIHEL's LIFE and Advanced Leadership Programs RIHEL's Leadership is For Everyone (LIFE) training is an annual one-day leadership and networking/training event for health care and public health professionals. Co-hosted by RIHEL, COSOPHE, and CEHA, this year's training is April 21st in Westminster and includes presentations by Darius Smith and Deb Center. Register here. RIHEL’s Advanced Leadership Training Program (ALTP) has graduated over 700 health and public health professionals since its inception 17 years ago. It is a year-long, high-touch training that imparts critical leadership skills, systems thinking, and other management essentials while providing deep and lasting networking experiences. Learn more and apply here. Opportunities & Resources invisible text Quality Improvement Tools of the Month There is constant innovation in public health quality improvement, driven in part by the growing number of LPHAs seeking accreditation. Here are some tools we've recently discovered. We hope to feature a few of these each month. SIPOC+CM+CE Collection Form: This is an adapted version of an old-but-reliable tool for mapping an organization's core programs and processes. It stands for Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs, Customers, Constraints and Measures. Learn more Map of published public health QI initiatives: this state-by-state and county-by-county mapping tool from the Public Health Quality Improvement Exchange (PHQIX) shows the spread of QI projects across the country. Colorado is certainly underrepresented, so consider submitting a write-up of the QI projects you are most proud of. Learn more. Report from ICMA Details How Local Governments are Critical for Health The International City/County Management Association (ICMA) studied how all types of local government services impact their communities’ health. The resulting report “seeks to advance the conversation about viewing and managing general local government infrastructure, transportation systems, water and sanitation, land use and planning, and other services as part of broader efforts to contribute to a healthy environment and support healthy lifestyles.” For those of you advocating for Health in All Policies, this report may be a great resource to share with your municipal leaders and your peers in local government. Access the report here. invisible text The Public Health Foundation Launches New TRAIN Learning Platform PHF has improved usability and searchability with this new interface, and has added new trainings based on input from public health professionals from around the country. There is a wide range of topics from computer skills to accounting to toxic waste management. Explore the platform here. invisible text Free Healthy Lifestyle Webinars from Kaiser Your community members may benefit from these free webinars focused on health behavior change that supports chronic disease prevention. These hour-long webinars cover topics like reducing diabetes risk and weight loss, and will be available through May 17. Learn more. invisible text Value of CALPHO invisible text CALPHO Awarded Grant for Health in All Policies Development The Colorado Health Foundation has awarded CALPHO a 12-month grant to develop a comprehensive understanding of the current state of Health in All Policies (HiAP) work in the state and to build Colorado-specific resources to assist LPHAs in their current and future HiAP work. The final products will be informed by a literature review, analyses of existing data sets like the NACCHO profile, and key informant interviews. We will also be engaging CALPHO's HiAP workgroup to guide and advise this project. Email Peter Manetta if you would like more information. invisible text Know anyone who should be getting CALPHO newsletters? Forward this newsletter so they can follow this link to join our list. ALSO, we love to highlight your agency’s achievements, your (or your colleague’s) professional accolades, or important news from your area that CALPHO members should hear. Please email Peter Manetta with your news! Books & More invisible text Human Genome Editing: Science, Ethics, and Governance National Academies Press The National Academies just released this eagerly-awaited report on the rapidly advancing technologies of gene editing, especially the CRISPR method. The local public health implications of this technology seem distant, but this report discusses some reasons why you might be dealing with this sooner than you think. CRISPR is relatively easy and cheap, which means that its use won’t be confined to well-funded academic and pharmaceutical labs. It is possible that local public health will soon be leveraging this technology (e.g. gene drives for vector control) or responding to the consequences of its misuse. Either way, public health will likely need to develop expertise in this area to stay on top of opportunities and challenges. EVENT CALENDAR   Association of Community Health Improvement 2017 National Conference March 9-11 8:30am – 4:00pm Hyatt Regency Denver, CO Every year, community health, community benefit, population health and healthy community professionals gather to learn from health experts and exchange ideas. Register   2017 Children’s Environmental Health Translational Research Conference April 5-7 Key Bridge Marriot Arlington, VA The Children's Environmental Health Network's (CEHN) biennial research conference is the premier event for professionals in the children's environmental health field to share their findings and translational activties. Learn More   Joint Criminal-Epidemiological Investigations Workshop April 20 8:30am - 4:00pm Mesa County Workforce Center Grand Junction, CO This CDPHE-FBI workshop through CO-Train aims to improve the ability of law enforcement and public health to work together to respond to potential bioterrorism. Designed for both LPH staff and law enforcement. Register   2017 NACCHO Preparedness Summit April 25-28 Marriot Marquis Atlanta, GA Registration is now open for the 2017 Preparedness Summit with early bird rates available until March 17, 2017. Register   2017 Network Leadership Training Academy April 26-28 Denver, CO The NLTA is a place where network leaders and practitioners gather to learn, share ideas, and develop skills for engaging in the "network way of working." This 3-day workshop in Denver is focused on building, managing, and evaluating effective networks. Register   NNPHI Public Health Improvement Conference May 17-19 New Orleans, LA This year’s theme, “Navigating Uncertainty, Spanning Boundaries, Improving Health,” reflects on the challenges and uncertainty ahead, but also reminds us that we must unite across sectors to continue working for the improvement of population health. Register   NNPHI Public Health Improvement Training (PHIT) June 13-14 Albuquerque, NM Are you looking for hands-on learning to increase your performance improvement knowledge and skills? PHIT offers hands-on training workshops and networking opportunities to support health professionals in taking action on public health performance improvement. Register   NEHA 2017 Annual Educational Conference & Exhibition July 10-13 Grand Rapids, MI The NEHA AEC is so much more than a conference. It is the nexus for environmental health training, education, networking, and advancement. Register   2017 NACCHO Annual July 11-13 Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh, PA The theme for 2017 is "Public Health Revolution: Bridging CLinical Medicine and Population Health" Registration is open adn early bird rates last through June 9. Register   Thank you for reading. If you have any comments or ideas for future CALPHO e-newsletters, please email us at info@calpho.org.    The purpose of this e-newsletter is to provide news updates, events and informational resources on hot topics in local public health and CALPHO. Any staff person of a CALPHO member agency is welcome to join our email list to receive this e-newsletter. If you have a colleague interested in receiving this e-newsletter, please forward this message to them. Copyright © Colorado Association of Local Public Health Officials 2017, All rights reserved.   Our mailing address is: 1385 S. Colorado Blvd., Bldg. A, Suite 622 Denver, Colorado 80222

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