DENVER – A serendipitous encounter at the Catalyst Health-Tech Innovation (HTI) campus leads to a project between two neighboring companies that will provide opportunities to improve Colorado’s oral health.

Delta Dental of Colorado and CORHIO are both tenants of the healthcare industry integrator space in Denver’s River North district. An informal meeting in the fall of 2018 turned into a full-fledged plan to tackle one of the more persistent problems in oral health care: people getting oral health care in emergency room settings when they should be getting regular preventive care in a dental setting. By using CORHIO’s data services and health information exchange technology to analyze clinical and claims data for a certain segment of Delta Dental’s membership, the partners are attempting to identify opportunities to identify proactive care to:

• Improve the patient experience
• Improve population health
• Reduce the cost of health care

There is a history of isolating the financing and delivery of oral health care from the medical health care sector, yet evidence suggests that improved oral health lowers overall health care costs and outcomes. By joining medical clinical data with dental claims data, the two companies can determine how to intervene more effectively with appropriate care delivery in the future.

“This is exactly the kind of collaboration I had hoped would be happening by putting all of these innovative companies in the same space,” said health-tech entrepreneur and Catalyst president Mike Biselli. “This ecosystem is built to foster these types of interactions that might not happen elsewhere. It can lead to some really progressive partnerships that help increase our understanding of how we can better deliver health care.”

Delta Dental and CORHIO will incorporate the findings into a mutually developed white paper that they plan to share publicly.

“We are committed to elevating the importance of oral health in the minds of health professionals and the broader public and to advancing innovations that help us improve the health of the communities we serve,” said Helen Drexler, President and CEO of Delta Dental of Colorado. “This collaboration with CORHIO within the Catalyst community will allow us to advance both of these important goals.”

“This ground-breaking project with Delta Dental is the culmination of years of hard work by so many healthcare organizations in Colorado who are dedicated to building robust health information exchange,” said Morgan Honea, CEO of CORHIO. “Through this collaboration, we’re incredibly excited to work together for greater integration between physical and oral healthcare providers to improve patient outcomes and experiences. We are thrilled that the idea for this exciting project transpired at Catalyst HTI, a community of innovators we are proud to be a part of.”

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About Delta Dental of Colorado

Established in 1958, Delta Dental of Colorado is the largest, most experienced dental benefits provider in the state. It is a nonprofit organization that serves more than 1.3 million Coloradans with high-quality, cost-effective, evidence-based dental plans. Delta Dental of Colorado’s mission is to improve the oral health of the communities it serves. Delta Dental of Colorado is a member of the national Delta Dental Plans Association (DDPA). For more than 50 years, the DDPA has worked to improve oral health nationally. Delta Dental member companies serve more than 73 million people nationwide. For more information, visit our website at DeltaDentalCO.com.

About CORHIO
CORHIO is an independent, non-profit digital health organization committed to advancing healthcare by enhancing information technology and data exchange. CORHIO oversees one of the largest and most successful health information exchange networks in the United States, with more than 13,000 users and 74 hospitals participating. Dedicated professionals at CORHIO help healthcare providers use innovative technology to improve care delivery, while our robust database gives healthcare plans and accountable care organizations information to maximize the impact of population health programs. For more information, visit www.corhio.org.

About Catalyst HTI
Located in Denver, Colorado’s River North District (RiNo), Catalyst HTI is a 180,000 square-foot industry integrator designed to bring health-tech start-ups and established health care entities together under one roof. The building covers an entire block, located on the west side of Brighton Boulevard between 35th and 36th Streets. Catalyst HTI’s goal is to bring together private enterprise (startups to Fortune 100), government, academic and non-profit organizations with healthcare providers and payers to accelerate innovation and drive real, lasting change.