The Temperature | The cost of gun injuries  (2024)

Happy Wednesday, Colorado, and welcome to another edition of The Temperature, where if you read past the meaty health reporting this week you will be rewarded with a water policy/boy band crossover story by our Shannon Mullane that you didn’t know you needed in your life.

Speaking of water, the world may be on the verge of having way too much of it. CNN reported this week that climate change and warming ocean temperatures mean Antarctica’s “Doomsday Glacier” could be closer to collapsing, which could unleash a whole bunch of other glaciers to go tumbling into the ocean, raising global sea levels by as much as 10 feet. 10 feet!

That kind of sea level rise would have ripples all the way into Colorado. As we’ve reported before, estimates of true sea level are crucial in determining how tall our mountains are. So wouldn’t oceans that are 10 feet higher mean that three Colorado 14ers would turn into 13ers?

It’s enough to be very discouraged about the future, but (pivot, PIVOT!) we have something for you to look forward to. SunFest, our awesome ideas festival, is coming back this year — Sept. 27 on the University of Denver campus, to be more precise. We’ll have a whole new slate of fascinating and informative speakers and panel discussions, plus you get to enjoy the camaraderie of fellow Colorado supernerds (like us).

Tickets are on sale now, and Sun members get a hefty discount. Go to ColoradoSun.com/SunFest for more details.

OK, in the spirit of Shannon’s story, let’s quit playing games and dive in.

TEMP CHECK

HEALTH

The cost of firearm injuries in Colorado

We often talk about the toll of firearm-related injuries — the tragic deaths, the lives forever changed. But let’s talk for a moment about the cost.

Recently, the Center for Improving Value in Health Care, or CIVHC, looked at how much medical claims related to firearm injuries cost in Colorado in 2022. Their conclusion: $8.4 million.

CIVHC also found some concerning trends within the data.

Between 2016 and 2022, the rate of medical claims for firearm-related injuries increased 53%. But it increased even more for injuries to kids: 120%.

Men were three times more likely than women to suffer firearm injuries. And rural counties generally have higher rates of injury than urban ones.

Kristin Paulson, CIVHC’s president and CEO, said in a statement that the analysis shows “the critical need for continued focus on comprehensive public health, education, and community-tailored initiatives aimed at addressing and preventing firearm violence.”

To conduct this analysis, CIVHC relied on a powerful tool — the state’s all-payer claims database, which has amassed anonymized data from more than a billion Colorado medical claims drawn from more than 5.5 million unique people. But the analysis doesn’t provide a comprehensive overview of firearm-related harms in Colorado.

Many firearms injuries — particularly homicides and suicides — do not result in a medical claim for tragic reasons. So the analysis ended up weighted heavily toward an often less examined area: unintentional injuries. Of the more than 7,000 claims analyzed for 2022, 72% were coded for unintentional injuries. Next came assaults at 17%.

To Dr. Emmy Betz, the director of the Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, the analysis provides more insight into gun-related harms, an emerging area of public health research and intervention.

“It’s an important way to look at things,” she said. “It helps people think about another aspect of this specifically beyond the deaths.”

The deaths are, of course, a big deal. As we have reported before — and often contrary to public perception — the large majority of firearm-related deaths in Colorado are suicides.

But Betz said the medical claims data can provide valuable insight into the issues underlying gun injuries.

“It raises concerns for me about what is happening in those homes and why firearms are maybe not being locked up in those homes,” she said.

And that question can help identify where public health campaigns could have an impact.

You can read more on this story in the coming days on ColoradoSun.com.

HOSPITALS

Anthem and CommonSpirit made nice, but patients still got hurt

So, the great standoff of 2024 between two of the Colorado health care industry’s biggest players has ended.

Friday evening, insurer Anthem and hospital system CommonSpirit Health announced they had reached a new five-year agreement to keep CommonSpirit facilities in-network for Anthem members.

The pair’s previous deal expired May 1, meaning CommonSpirit became out-of-network — and potentially a lot more expensive — for Anthem members for nearly three weeks. (There were some ways, though, that Anthem members needing ongoing care could apply to continue receiving that care at CommonSpirit facilities at in-network prices.)

The deal means that all of the care Anthem members received at CommonSpirit during the gap will retroactively be billed at in-network prices.

To hear leaders of the two companies tell it in the news release announcing the deal, the whole standoff was just a bump along the way to ensuring high-quality, low-cost care for Coloradans.

“Our patients are at the heart of all we do,” CommonSpirit Mountain Region EVP and CFO Andrew Gaasch said in his statement. “Our goal has always been to ensure we can meet the needs of our patients while continuing to provide essential services to our communities today and into the future.”

For his part, Anthem Colorado President Matt Pickett said: “I’m proud that both organizations stayed at the negotiating table. Importantly, the long-term nature of our agreement ensures care provider network stability for our members and cost predictability for Colorado employers for years to come.”

The companies didn’t reveal specifics on exactly how the deal will impact prices or insurance premiums. But there was something even more conspicuous missing from the statements: An acknowledgment of how the negotiation process hurt patients.

Anthem is an important insurer in Colorado because it provides coverage in all 64 counties — meaning it covers a lot of patients who live in places where they don’t exactly have a wide selection of health care choices. And sometimes in those communities, the only option is a CommonSpirit facility.

So there have been a lot of angry and freaked out patients in Colorado these past few weeks.

“I’m sick about it,” a patient with a chronic autoimmune disease told The Durango Herald. The only general hospital serving Durango is CommonSpirit’s Mercy Hospital.

“It is crazy, it’s not fair,” a patient with diabetes told KOAA in Colorado Springs, where CommonSpirit operates three hospitals and numerous clinics.

Patients said they were delaying needed medical care or skipping preventive care due to the contract fight.

The Anthem/CommonSpirit smackdown was about money — CommonSpirit said it needed more to survive and Anthem said it wanted to hold prices down for its members. Last week, CommonSpirit reported a $365 million loss nationally for the first quarter of 2024, and the Colorado fight came as CommonSpirit is trying to take a harder line with insurers in contract negotiations nationwide, Becker’s reported.

(According to a recent RAND analysis, CommonSpirit-owned hospitals in Colorado charged private insurers, like Anthem, nearly three times more on average in 2022 than Medicare would have paid for the same services, which puts them right around the statewide average.)

In a statement after the dispute was resolved, Colorado Insurance Commissioner Michael Conway said: “Each side had legitimate concerns, but it was the people of Colorado who were caught in the middle.”

And, perhaps more importantly, it was people in Colorado who walked away with lasting bitterness toward the entire health care system.

“I think they’re all guilty, CommonSpirit and Anthem,” one patient told the Summit Daily. “I don’t see any heroes in this game. People like me are left holding the bag and wondering, ‘What do we do?’”

MORE HEALTH NEWS

• Colorado’s fentanyl deaths continue to rise. The DEA is taking a new approach. Drug overdose deaths are declining nationwide, but the trend has not yet taken hold for fentanyl in Colorado. At least 1,089 people died of fentanyl poisoning in the state last year, according to preliminary numbers. That’s nearly 20% more than in 2022. To fight the problem, the Drug Enforcement Administration has launched a new program to work with money service businesses and financial institutions to try to track money flowing to illicit opioid suppliers, Ernesto Cabral reports.
  — The Colorado Sun
• A bill to get the lead out of aviation fuel is now law. We previously told you about a forthcoming study by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment looking at lead levels in the blood of kids living near airports — those living closer had slightly more lead in their blood, but the levels were relatively low. Still, the finding highlights concerns about potential lead pollution from small planes using leaded aviation fuel. Lawmakers passed a bill this year to nudge small airports toward switching to unleaded fuel. That bill — which uses state fiscal policy to set up a system of grants and tax credits — is now law, after the governor signed it Friday.
  — The Colorado Sun
• When just getting people covered isn’t enough. The United States has made extraordinary progress under the Affordable Care Act in getting people covered by health insurance, especially through enhanced subsidies championed by the Biden administration. So why aren’t voters more psyched about that and inclined to reward Joe Biden at the polls? Because out-of-pocket costs remain out-of-reach for many people, leading to new worries about being able to access health care when you need it.
  — Axios
• High-altitude climbing can make your heart skip a beat. One out of every three people climbing Mount Everest experienced heart arrhythmias during the ascent, according to a new study. The abnormal heart beats were most pronounced between about 17,000 feet and 24,000 feet. The events decreased at higher elevations, when most climbers switched to supplemental oxygen.
  — JAMA

CLIMATE

Water shortage? Splashstreet Boys don’t want it that way

Denver Water has officially raised the bar for how water utilities should remind their customers about summer watering rules. Their take: a Backstreet Boys-inspired music video.

The video has everything needed for an homage to the kings of the early 2000s: all-white outfits, fake goatees, boy band personas, choreography, backflips and harmonies to match.

But the parody’s lyrics take it to a level of water nerd that the Backstreet Boys never attempted — and offer a catchy way for the utility’s 1.5 million customers to remember how to efficiently use water in the hotter months of the year.

Tell me why?

Don’t water when it’s rainin’

Tell me why?

Don’t water when it’s windy

Tell me why?

Don’t let your water wash away

I water that way

Jimmy Luthye, who wrote the lyrics, said the idea came to him years ago while listening to the radio. Then, it was just a matter of pulling together the team, polishing the lyrics and spending a few hours filming and editing. The team’s mantra, Luthye said, was “commit to the bit.”

Their plan worked. Denver Water, Colorado’s largest and oldest water utility, released the video in late April, and within 10 days, it had gained 100,000 views. It received local, national and even international attention. NBC’s “Today” featured it. The Backstreet Boys even commented on the video on Instagram, saying “You guys NAILED this.”

“It’s been crazy,” Luthye said. “We had like six people logged in watching the premiere live on YouTube. … Truly the next day the ‘Today’ show was running it.”

The song explains guidelines on when to water and what water conditions are best to avoid water waste. One tip: Aim for 12 gallons of water per square foot of landscape per year. A customer with 3,000 square feet of landscape should aim for using 36,000 gallons of water per year outside their home, Luthye said.

“The goal was to really speak to our watering rules and help folks understand how important it is to water the right way,” Luthye said. “Our water supply is looking pretty good for this year, but at the same time, we live in a dry climate; it can turn pretty quickly. We just always need to keep these guidelines in mind.”

CLIMATE

U.S. passes 5 million solar homes, and Grand Junction turns on the sun

News that Mesa County has reached a widely hailed compromise opening the way for rapid solar power growth comes as national experts hail a landmark measurement of solar expansion.

Total solar installations, from rooftop panels on a home to a utility-scale solar farm, have now reached 5 million across the United States, just a few years after passing 1 million installations in 2016. The Solar Energy Industries Association noted it took 40 years to get to 1 million, from the first solar panels getting connected to the grid in 1973.

To keep that momentum going, renewable energy advocates say, Mesa and other rural counties in Colorado should have in place a set of zoning and interconnection policies that encourage solar growth while accommodating residents’ concerns about sight planes, industrialization of agriculture spaces and culture change.

That balance was apparently achieved this spring in Mesa County, home to Grand Junction, ample high desert sunlight and solar-friendly spaces along river valleys and mesa tops. After a brief moratorium on big solar projects while the county “paused” to work out new policies, renewable energy advocates now believe some intriguing projects will be moving forward soon.

“The process went super smoothly,” said Jeremiah Garrick, manager of community engagement for the Colorado Solar and Storage Association. “In about four months, they were able to start from scratch, build a cohesive solar development code that encompasses everything that they wanted it to, and take input from all of those people putting it all together into one workable code. It’s not perfect for anyone but that’s kind of a sign of a good code.”

Community activists who called for the pause, partly in fear of big developments marring Mesa County’s stunning views and traditional farmlands, also seem happy with the solar code.

“I certainly didn’t get everything I was going for in this, but speaking for those of us who were at all the meetings and all the discussions and reading all the emails on the public portal, everybody really did a good job of trying to find that crazy balance,” one Palisade-area resident told The Sentinel in Grand Junction.

One element of the new Mesa code provides solar developers opportunities to create larger projects if they include elements of “agrivoltaics” under and around the panels. Such arrangements, whether hosting flower crops or pollinator habitat or sheep grazing underneath the broad panel arrays, can soften the industrial takeover of agriculture property and support farming.

“I think this was a great step towards trying to incentivize dual use of lands as opposed to solar just taking agricultural land,” Garrick said.

Back to the national picture, industry calculations say 7% of American homes now have solar, headed to 15% by 2030. The 5 million installations landmark passed this year will triple to 15 million by 2034, at current rates, the industry says.

Solar promoters in Colorado will now watch and help other counties in rural parts of the state try to emulate the Mesa County policy experience. Five Colorado counties currently have a moratorium on big solar development approvals, Garrick said, but most are short-term bans specifically set to work out an acceptable code.

“In general, they’re headed in a good direction,” Garrick said.

MORE CLIMATE NEWS

• Ask your local chickadee for directions. What mountain creature has the most remarkable memory for where to find the best food? Turns out it’s the bird-brained, less-than-half-ounce mountain chickadee, according to new research from UC Boulder and University of Nevada. A great number of chickadees have perfect genetic memories for finding hidden food stashes. But will the natural selection “winners” change when climate heating makes food stashes less reliable? Will forgetfulness and spontaneity be rewarded? Michael Booth stops and looks at the map.
  — The Colorado Sun
• The cost of gas is about to spike. How high will it go? Are we willing to pay more per gallon to help clear up the Front Range ozone problem? How much more? And will it even work? We take on some of the basic questions about EPA-required reformulated gas, and whether Gov. Jared Polis has standing to object.
  — The Colorado Sun
• Gigafact: How you can keep some of your Colorado rainwater. If you haven’t caught our new Gigafact reality checks from Justin George, start with this head-scratcher: Are downstream Colorado farmers so desperate for water they won’t let you keep one barrel of rainfall at your house?
  — The Colorado Sun
• Shutting off the power to shut down wildfire dangers. Faced with high winds April 6, Xcel Energy, the state’s largest electricity provider, preemptively shut down parts of its electric grid to reduce wildfire risk. The shut-offs lasted through April 7. Local emergency management officials complained there was inadequate notice of the shut-offs. If this is going to be the new normal, state regulators have questions, Mark Jaffe reports.
  — The Colorado Sun
• Ten of the most important water measures passed by the legislature. From helping Grand Lake to solving a wetlands threat created by a SCOTUS decision, the 2024 legislative session was a wild ride on the water side. Jerd Smith and Larry Morandi make a short list of the bills that held the most water.
  — The Colorado Sun

CHART OF THE WEEK

We told you above about the increase in medical claims for firearm-related injuries in Colorado. Gun purchases have also increased significantly over the years.

As the chart above shows, Colorado averaged around 130,000 to 140,000 gun purchases in the early 2000s. Those numbers have roughly tripled since then, peaking at more than 480,000 in 2020 and falling back to about 360,000 last year.

As is pretty standard, we are using approved Colorado Bureau of Investigation background checks as a proxy for purchases here — i.e., purchases that CBI allowed following a background check.

Colorado in 2013 extended background checks to private gun sales, which affects the data a little. But roughly 97% of gun purchases in Colorado are through a licensed firearms dealer, so adding in private sales doesn’t account for the trend.

Neither does population growth. Using a crude population rate calculation, there were about 61 gun purchases for every 1,000 Colorado residents last year. That is double the 30 purchases for every 1,000 Colorado residents there were two decades prior in 2003.

You can click the chart above to go to a bigger version of the chart where you can click on the bars to see more data.

Hey, that was a lot of reading you just did! Best to focus on recovery now. It’s looking like an absolutely gorgeous day across Colorado, so some sunshine therapy may be in order.

And will you see us back here next week? Of course you will. As the Splashstreet Boys might say, I’ll never break your heart.

— John & Michael

Corrections & Clarifications

Notice something wrong? The Colorado Sun has an ethical responsibility to fix all factual errors. Request a correction by emailing corrections@coloradosun.com.