Colorado’s overall ability to respond to disease outbreaks, disasters and other big health emergencies rose above the national average this year, according to an index that scores each state in more than 130 areas.
The rated Colorado at 7.1 on a scale of 10, above the 6.8 national figure in the report released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The — equaling the 2016 national average.
The report noted that hazardous threats have increased for several reasons, ranging from new and recurring infectious diseases to terrorism, extreme weather and even cyber-security breaches.
Nationally, improvement on overall preparedness lagged in the South and Mountain West regions, but Colorado bucked that trend with its overall score. The index looked at a variety of measures to determine its scores, including hazard planning in public schools, vaccination rates, 911 capabilities, food and water safety and the number of paramedics and hospitals in the state.
Many of the areas examined fall under the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Dane Matthew, director of the CDPHE’s Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response, said in a statement that the agency uses the index “as a tool for improvement.”
“The index supports Colorado’s efforts to reduce health security inequities by identifying strengths and opportunities for improvement,” he said. “The data informs meaningful policy discussions and deliberations about health security.
“We are improving as a state,” Matthew added, noting the state’s score showed a 7.6 percent increase from 2013. “The department will continue to use the index to better prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies.”
Although Colorado continued to improve overall, its scoring breakdown in the six major areas of the index revealed a mixed bag of preparedness.
Colorado scored below the national average in its ability to collect and analyze data to identify possible threats before they arise and to mobilize and manage resources during a health incident.
The index measures a broad range of protections and response, said Glen Mays, a professor of health policy at the University of Kentucky who leads the research team that developed the index.
“For lots of health threats, itap important to be able to detect it as quickly as possible,” Mays said. “Thatap an area where Colorado is lagging behind the nation as a whole.”
Colorado scored a 6.5 in that domain, called Health Security Surveillance, compared to the national average of 7.9.
It hovered around the national average in terms of the state of its health care systems, although that’s where Colorado earned its lowest score of 5.4 — and where the nation as a whole scored lowest at 5.3. But the state earned high marks for its preparation to minimize damage from environmental and occupational hazards, as well as from biologic, chemical or nuclear agents.
It also scored well for its readiness to mobilize communities during times of crisis.
One measurement that drives the mobilization assessment is the extent to which various organizations participate in healthcare preparedness coalitions, Mays said. States that have high participation by hospitals, Emergency Medical Service agencies and other resources down to the local level tend to perform well in this area.
“Thatap where resource sharing and training happens,” Mays said. “By 2016 in Colorado, all hospitals were participating in a healthcare preparedness coalition, the same for EMS services. It’s a much different story in lot of other states. Colorado has done it, and that explains some of why it’s leading the nation in some of these areas.”
The index, created four years ago by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, moved under the foundation’s control last year and underwent improvements, Mays said.
