Emily Mccormick

Denver Health and Hospital Authority · Denver Public Health Department

BACKGROUND Adolescent overweight and obesity are serious health risks, with prevalence varying by sociodemographic group. Studies link children's weight status and sex/race–ethnic differences with meeting recommendations for physical activity and diet. But, research examining the intersection of sociodemographic characteristics, behavior, and weigh...

A retrospective chart review studied 892 Denver Clostridium difficile cases from 2011 through 2013 with incident stool specimen reported to the state health department. Cases were stratified by epidemiologic classification (HFCO, CO-HCFA or CO-CA) and analyzed for associations with demographic and risk factors. Denver CDI incidence rate increased f...

The growing prevalence of overweight and obesity among children is well documented, but prevalence estimates offer little insight into rates of transition to higher or lower body mass index (BMI; weight (kg)/height (m)2) categories. We estimated the expected numbers of years children would live as normal weight, overweight, and obese by race/ethnic...

Background: Community Health Assessments (CHA) provide a foundation for public health planning and evaluation to improve health outcomes for a jurisdiction, and are crucial to achieving public health accreditation. Denver’s initial CHA was completed in 2008 and is updated every three years. In preparation for the 2014 CHA, an environmental scan was...

To determine the utility of repeated patient-level body mass index (BMI) measurements among higher-risk patients seen at safety-net clinics as a community-level monitoring tool for overweight and obesity population trends. Data from a network of urban, federally qualified community health centers with computerized tracking of BMI at sequential outp...

Objective: To describe childhood weight gain using body mass index (BMI) z-score trajectories in a low-income urban safety-net population and identify among gender- and race/ethnicity-specific groups any trends for increased risk. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted among 2- to 12-year-old patients (2006-2013) visiting a safety-n...

BACKGROUND: Asthma is a significant source of chronic illness. Across Colorado, 12% of adolescents surveyed in the Youth Behavioral Risk Surveillance System reported having asthma. Demographic and environmental factors associated with poorly controlled asthma include race/ethnicity, income, and exposure to tobacco smoke or air pollution. The Colora...

BACKGROUND: Business Intelligence (BI) technology can facilitate access to health data to support public health interventions with a goal of improved population-level outcomes. By utilizing this technology, health departments and clinicians can intervene in a more directed manner with the HIV-infected community along their continuum of care, beginn...

BACKGROUND: Tobacco causes substantial morbidity, mortality and healthcare costs. A key public health (PH) response is easy access to cessation services. A PH monitoring system should efficiently track cessation referral trends, and outcomes of clinical- and community-based interventions. Q-LINe seeks to establish a well-integrated, PH referral and...

To assess rates of immunization; costs of conducting clinics; and reimbursements for a school-located influenza vaccination (SLIV) program that billed third-party payers. SLIV clinics were conducted in 19 elementary schools in the Denver Public School district (September 2010 to February 2011). School personnel obtained parental consent, and a comm...

To describe parental vaccine decision making behaviors and characterize trust in physician advice among parents with varying childhood vaccination behaviors. Between 2008 and 2011, a mixed methods study was conducted with parents of children aged <4 years who were members of Kaiser Permanente Colorado health plan. Seven focus groups were conducted...

Brief Summary: Obtaining, tracking, and analyzing real-time data during public health emergencies remains a challenge and also an important opportunity. Operation Dragon Fire (ODF) was initiated by a cross-agency workgroup to create a cloud-based, participatory platform to fill the gap in real-time, local, and accurate information received during t...

BACKGROUND: Public health electronic case reporting systems (especially those supported by state health departments) are typically focused on notifiable diseases limiting system utility for broader disease surveillance, case investigation, and outbreak response. Many outbreaks are caused by other pathogens and are outside the notifiable disease s...

Objective: To assess physician attitudes regarding school-located adolescent vaccination and influenza vaccination. Methods: From July through September 2010, a 20-item survey was mailed to 1337 practicing Colorado family physicians and pediatricians. Standard statistical methods were used to examine unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios of factor...

Background: Few school-located vaccination programs have billed health insurance for vaccines given, which may hinder sustainability. Objectives: To assess vaccination and billing outcomes of a school-located vaccination program, open to all adolescent students regardless of insurance status, and designed to bill health insurance for vaccine and...

Background: School-located vaccinations have been proposed as a means to improve vaccination rates among adolescents. However, knowledge is limited regarding physician support for delivering vaccines to adolescents at school and billing by the school vaccinator for services provided. In order to bill publicly insured patients in Colorado, a physici...

Background: Vaccine hesitancy is a growing public health problem in the United States. An increasing number of parents are choosing to decline or delay vaccination for their children. It is unclear if pediatricians have adequate resources to deal with this complex problem. Purpose/Objective: To assess attitudes, perceptions, and experiences of pedi...

Background: While several vaccines are routinely recommended for adolescents, successful delivery of these vaccines raises challenges. Adolescents less frequently seek preventive health services in the traditional medical home compared to other age groups. Therefore, developing sustainable, effective vaccination programs outside the medical home is...

Background: In 2008, CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended annual influenza vaccination for all persons aged 6 months–18 years beginning no later than the 2009–2010 influenza season. Delivering annual influenza vaccination services to all children presents new strategic challenges. Most influenza vaccination has previously...