Colorado State Innovation Model (SIM)
Monthly Newsletter
August, 2015
In This Issue
SIM Advisory Board to be Expanded

In response to numerous comments received from the stakeholder community, the SIM Advisory Board will be expanded to include four new members. 

Two of these members will represent consumers, one will represent a major hospital, and one will represent a major national payer.   Read more
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Greetings,

This is the first installment of a monthly newsletter that will be distributed to our mailing list on the second Wednesday of every month. If you would like to be removed or added to our distribution list, please visit the contact us section on the SIM website. 

Thank you for your continued support for and engagement in SIM. This initiative reflects a collaborative effort on behalf of the entire stakeholder community, and your continued contribution is critical to its success. Only through the work and support of the entire stakeholder community can we achieve our bold vision of health care transformation in Colorado.

 

Warmest Regards,

 

Vatsala Pathy

Director, State Innovation Model (SIM)

Office of the Governor

SIM Office Hits the Road

SIM hit the road with Gov. John Hickenlooper, visiting Frisco and Leadville July 31 as part of the governor's community outreach efforts. Vatsala Pathy, SIM director, and Lynnette Hampton, SIM operations manager, accompanied the governor as he held discussions on issues important to residents and communities. Health care integration was among the topics on the agenda, as were the state budget, workforce issues, economic development, energy, environment and infrastructure. SIM is planning to do its own community outreach tour in an effort to hear from our community partners, constituencies and other interested parties. More on that effort to come!
SIM Practice Transformation Organization (PTO) Request for Proposals 

The University of Colorado (UC) Anschutz Medical Campus (AMC) released a Request For Proposals (RFP) on July 31, 2015 in an effort to select a pool of approved vendors to provide practice transformation support services. These services would be available to health practices in Colorado participating in one or more innovative projects, including to 400 primary care practices to be identified to participate in SIM. Participating practices in the SIM program and future programs will be eligible to receive Practice Facilitation as well as Clinical Health Information Technology (HIT) advising to support their progression to high performing primary care practices providing integrated physical health and behavioral health. 

Organizations interested in being considered as an approved vendor to provide Practice Facilitation and/or Clinical Health Information Technology Advising are invited to respond to the RFP titled "AMC- Practice Transformation Organizations" located on the UC Procurement Service Center website.   Read more about this opportunity
Bi-Directional Integration Demonstration and Practice-Based Research Pilot Program

The Colorado Behavioral Healthcare Council was awarded funding by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation in partnership with the SIM Office to facilitate the selection of four Community Mental Health Centers in Colorado to participate in a pilot program. The goal of the pilot is to integrate primary care and prevention services into the community behavioral health setting (bi-directional integration). In addition to important service integration, this initiative will focus on gathering health outcome, quality, cost and payment data necessary to inform the design of value-based payment systems for sustainable, high-quality integrated care.   Learn more about this opportunity.
Looking Ahead: Request for Qualifications for First Cohort

The University of Colorado is finalizing a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) that will be released this fall. The RFQ will seek to gather information on recommended qualifications from practices who are interested in participating in SIM. The practices that are selected to participate will receive technical assistance and financial support to integrate physical and behavioral health and test value-based payment models. 

All practices that would like to be considered for the first cohort of SIM should respond to the RFQ when it is released this fall. If you received this newsletter, you are already on the distribution list and will receive more information when it becomes available. If you would like to be added to our distribution list please visit the contact us section of the website.
In the News

 

After 50 Years of Medicaid, Building on its Successes

Sylvia Burwell, Secretary of Health and Human Services

 

Coloradans Will Continue to Lead on Health Care Reform

Michael Lott-Manier

SIM is on Twitter
 
The SIM Office is now on Twitter! Follow us @SIM_Colorado to read about how Colorado is transforming the way health care is delivered, and stay up to date with the latest SIM news.