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A656660F4275247087258773005FD5A5 Hearing Summary

PUBLIC
BILL SUMMARY For MOVING FORWARD IN A WORLD WITH COVID

INTERIM COMMITTEE STATEWIDE HEALTH CARE REVIEW COMMITTEE
Date Oct 19, 2021
Location HCR 0112

Moving Forward in a World with COVID - Committee Discussion Only


	11:26:49 AM	Cara Bradbury, Executive Director, CALPHO, discussed how the pandemic has impacted the public health workforce. Her presentation can be found on the committee's webpage: https://leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/images/3_calpho_future_outlook_for_local_public_health_in_colorado.pdf. Ms. Bradbury discussed the importance of a highly skilled and trained public health workforce that provides evidence-informed programs and services that address community health needs and encourages healthy behaviors. She stated that public health entities need to establish programs to prevent and treat burnout of the public health providers; establish state and local programs to build employment pathways to recruit, hire, and retain the next generation of public health practitioners with cross-cutting skill sets (e.g., outreach workers, communications professionals, public health lawyers, grant writers, and public health nurses); and strengthen plans for transitioning people hired during the pandemic into long-term jobs, including by supporting appropriate pay and benefits.
	11:33:31 AM	Ms. Bradbury discussed the local public health future outlook and regional resource sharing among local health agencies. She discussed modernizing public health information systems to gain better health data to inform public health initiatives. She discussed the potential to use federal funding to improve technical systems and pointed out that there are issues related to the governance of the health data.
	11:40:13 AM	Dr. Mark Johnson, CMS, discussed his experience with confrontational public responses to public health workers and health care providers. He explained that COVID-19 is not going away and that there are sure to be other pandemics. He stated that there is a need for health care systems to cooperate to address pandemic related stressors. He spoke about the cooperation that has been happening as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
	11:47:17 AM	Colleen Casper, CNA, emphasized three points that focus on helping Colorado move forward in a world with COVID: vaccines; supporting reliable workforce data; and supporting workforce pipeline development and retention.
	11:51:03 AM	Joshua Ewing, CHA, discussed the need to reinvest in the public health system to support the health care needs of the state and to work on moving from pandemic to endemic because delayed care will negatively impact overall health of the population. He stated that Colorado did well during the pandemic because of previous investments, support from the continuum of care, and collaboration between providers. He spoke about the concept of hospital-at-home which enables some patients who need acute-level care to receive care in their homes, rather than in a hospital. This care delivery model has been shown to reduce costs, improve outcomes, and enhance the patient experience.
	11:56:28 AM	Committee questions followed about bringing people back to health care, how to increase the health care workforce, specific concerns related to health care in rural communities, and ways to share health information between the public health and health care systems.
	12:10:24 PM	Panelist continued to respond to committee questions and discussed the types of data that would be useful to share between the health care system and the public health system, such as identifying patients who could benefit from being enrolled in the Women, Infant, and Children program. The committee and panelists discussed scholarships for rural health care providers and the need to provide support to these providers. The committee asked questions about adding to degree programs at community colleges to help work force issues. The panelists discussed thinking more creatively about the workforce pipeline and revisiting workforce development strategies, especially for placements for providers to finish training. The panelists discussed conducting a capacity assessment to identify gaps and opportunities.
	12:18:40 PM	The committee asked questions about the number of retired registered nurses who came back to help provide care during the pandemic, and discussed vaccine mandates for health care workers and the challenges for hospitals associated with this mandate. The panelists spoke about the supports that are in place for hospital workers who receive threats or are victims of violence and the possiblility that care may be limited if hospitals become overwhelmed with patients.
	12:39:15 PM	The committee recessed.

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