About Colorado Health Outcomes Program

The Colorado Health Outcomes Program (COHO) is dedicated to conducting clinical and systems health services research. Four methodological “core” areas are the focus of the program: 1) Primary Care Research; 2) Comparative Effectiveness and Safety Research; 3) Systems Redesign of Healthcare Systems to improve quality and efficiency; and 4) the application of clinical informatics to improve the quality of care.

The health care system in the United States today faces many difficult questions. What are the best ways to measure a person's health status and quality of life and to assess the impact of health care on such outcomes? How should health care delivery be organized to optimize care for individuals with chronic health conditions? How can disparities in health and health care for vulnerable populations be reduced? Questions such as these prompted the formation of COHO.

COHO was established in 1998 by a grant from the Dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Colorado, Denver. In 2000, Dr. John F. Steiner was named Director of COHO, and in 2009, Dr. David R. West assumed the role of director. The program occupies an 11,000 square-foot building on the Anschutz Medical Campus dedicated solely to outcomes research and education. COHO shares its mission, faculty, staff, and offices with the Children's Outcomes Research (COR) program.

What is Outcomes Research?

Outcomes research assesses the end results of health care from the perspective of those who receive the care, those who provide it and those who pay for it. The two main branches of outcomes research are:

• Clinical Outcomes Research assesses the effectiveness of health care for individuals or populations. Outcomes of interest include mortality, disease occurrence and severity (measured by clinical symptoms and physiological manifestations), and patient health status. Traditional clinical research assesses the impact of interventions (such as new diagnostic modalities, drugs or surgical procedures) on mortality and the physiological manifestations of disease. Outcomes research expands the scope of inquiry to include personal experiences associated with illness, such as distress due to symptoms, functional status, and quality of life. Clinical outcomes research also emphasizes the evaluation of health care interventions in representative, community settings rather than only in academic institutions or referral centers.

• System Outcomes Research assesses the impact of changes in the organization, financing, and delivery of health care on the individuals who receive that care. Issues such as access to care, utilization and costs of services, and satisfaction with care are central to this branch of outcomes research. In its most comprehensive form, outcomes research attempts to integrate the individual and societal perspectives in its assessment of the impact of health care interventions. Back to top.

Career Development In Health Outcomes

The University of Colorado Denver offers several degree programs that provide didactic training to individuals who envision careers in health outcomes research. These include doctoral, masters, and certificate programs in Clinical Sciences (CLSC), doctoral training in Analytical Health Sciences through the Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics, doctoral training in Health and Behavioral Sciences through the Downtown Denver campus, and a Master’s in Public Health (MPH) and Doctorate of Public Health (DrPH), through the newly developed School of Public Health.

COHO itself contains two programs for training and career development in outcomes research: the Primary Care Research Fellowship, which provides 2-year training programs for physicians in the specialties of general internal medicine, general pediatrics, and family medicine, and the Clinical Faculty Scholars Program, which provides a 2-year, mentored career development program for junior faculty in clinical departments within the University of Colorado. Back to top.

COHO Publications

Each year, we publish an annual report which highlights the accomplishments of the Colorado Health Outcomes Program.  Click for PDFs of the COHO Annual Reports and list of current COHO Publications. Back to top.

About Children's Outcomes Research

The Children's Outcomes Research (COR) Program was initially authorized and funded by The Children's Hospital Research Institute (TCHRI) in 2001. Since 2007, Allison Kempe, MD MPH has been the director of COR continuing the mission to improve child health, both locally and nationally, by conducting state-of-the-art pediatric outcomes research that will impact clinical practice and child health policy.

To accomplish this mission, the goals of the program are: 1) to develop a focused outcomes-based research agenda that builds on existing expertise and resources within The Children's Hospital (TCH) and the Department of Pediatrics; and 2) to catalyze, coordinate and facilitate high-quality outcomes research carried out by multiple UCD/TCH departments and the Department of Pediatrics sections.  To facilitate these goals, COR staff are involved in the education of fellows and faculty, consultation about methodological and analytical issues, and development of collaborative projects in the area of outcomes research.

The Children’s Outcomes Research program has additionally developed expertise in the following areas: surveying physicians nationwide about policy-related immunization topics; assessment of health care delivery to children; and measurement of patient-centered health outcomes. Consistent with the call of the current National Institutes of Health roadmap for interdisciplinary models of research, COR projects consistently rely on collaborations among clinicians, health services researchers, behavioral scientists and statisticians.

To find out more about this program and to read our annual report please visit the COR website hosted by the department of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado Denver. Back to top.