Colorado Health Institute

The Metro Denver Partnership for Health (MDPH) is a collaboration of public health departments, health care systems, human services agencies, and other partners serving the Denver metropolitan area with the goal of promoting health and well-being across the region. The Colorado Health Institute (CHI) has served as the strategic, administrative, and fiscal hub for MDPH since 2014.  MDPH is promoting a whole-person and whole-family approach to health through interoperable social-health information exchange (S-HIE). S-HIE bridges gaps across the health care, human service, and community-based systems that support health. Those connections facilitate cross-sector information sharing, improved service delivery, and better coordination of care. Interoperable S-HIE helps people conveniently access food pantries, housing services, screening and testing sites, mental and physical health care, and other vital services. Increasing access to evidence-based supports that address social determinants of health – such as nutritious food and secure housing – can reduce health disparities.  Today, various S-HIE platforms are under development – however, they are not aligned. The MDPH goal is not to replace any local system, but rather to connect currently siloed S-HIE systems into an interoperable S-HIE ecosystem with multidirectional communication. Telligen Community Initiative (TCI) has been an early champion of this effort. Funding to date from TCI has helped MDPH engage with the clinical and community-based workforce to ensure they have a voice in S-HIE development.