Center for Improving Value in Health Care

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
272884568
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Denver, CO, USA
Phone
7205832128
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Research Institutes and/or Public Policy Analysis

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$10,314,367
Expenses
$10,049,597
Assets
$8,140,392
Liabilities
$2,342,835

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

22 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • KRISTIN PAULSON (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • KRISTIN PAULSON (CEO): $375,289 total reported compensation
  • PAUL MCCORMICK (VP OF DATA O): $205,289 total reported compensation
  • PETER SHEEHAN (VP CSSI): $194,980 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To equip partners and communities in Colorado and across the nation with the resources, services and unbiased data needed to improve health and health care. We help communities, organizations and individuals identify opportunities to develop and advance innovative approaches to improve health and health care. Our work is grounded in the communities we serve. We build collaborative relationships and focus on addressing the needs of our partners. Service: our work is grounded in the communities we serve. We build collaborative relationships and focus on addressing the needs of our staff and our partners. Stewardship: we are conscientious stewards of the Colorado all payer claims database. Through data expertise and partnership, we ensure exceptional data quality and create innovative health care analytics resulting in actionable, data-driven insights. Integrity: we are objective, solution-oriented, and maintain the highest integrity in the work we do. We aim to be a trusted, credible, re

What it reported doing in 2024

Colorado all payer claims database in 2010, the executive director of the Colorado department of health care policy and financing (hcpf) appointed civhc the administrator of the co apcd. The co apcd is a state-legislated, secure health care claims database compliant with all federal privacy laws. The complexity and scale of the database continually grows with between millions of claims submitted by payers each month, reflecting over 5 million lives and nearly 1 billion claims. It is the only claims repository in the state that represents the vast majority of insured lives in Colorado, with over ten years of data from commercial health insurance payers, medicaid, and medicare. Analysis of these claims provide valuable insights on ways to improve the health of coloradans, make care more accessible and affordable, and improve the quality of the care being delivered. Civhc makes this information available publicly via civhc.org, and non-publicly via a data release process to multiple change agents including consumers, providers, employers, payers, researchers, state agencies, non-profits and others working to improve health and health care, and lower costs for Colorado residents. Public data releases increasing access to transparent health care data for all stakeholders is fundamental to the legislative vision behind the co apcd, civhcs mission, and coloradans ability to make informed decisions that will have lasting benefit to their communities and the state. Making public analyses and interactive tools available on civhc.org is one of the key methods civhc uses to enhance transparency in the health care marketplace. A wide range of public reports are released every year covering health access, utilization, and population-level information. These resources foster decision-making to improve care at all levels of the health care system. Non-public data releases in addition to providing public information, civhc offers custom data sets and reports to state agencies, organizations, and researchers aiming to identify ways to lower costs and improve the quality of health care. Each data release must demonstrably benefit Colorado, in alignment with co apcd regulations. Non-public data releases are used by a variety of stakeholders to perform targeted analyses that support efforts to enhance health care delivery, improve health outcomes, and address disparities.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 84% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 89
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 36
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 85.5%; rating input score 85
  • Program expense ratio: 87.2%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 2.6%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.81; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.29; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14.6%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 8.5% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 9.4% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 11.2% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 85.5% of revenue deployed · 87.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $8.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $375K · 22 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $2.2M reported
  • Consistency: 31 of 31 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2014 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 45/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 29/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 48/100.