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Upcoming Events and Helpful Resources
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| Health First Colorado videos for use in waiting rooms and other areas members visit are available for download on our website. |
New to PEAK or Need a Refresher?
The Intro to PEAK and Application Walk-Through recorded webinars are available anytime. For more information and trainings, visit the
PEAK Outreach Initiative website.
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Public Rule Review Opportunities
Anyone interested in a one-on-one discussion with Department staff about upcoming rules is invited to attend the Department's
Public Rule Review Meeting. Information is available on the
Public Rule Review Meetings web page.
For more information, or to be added to the Medical Services Board email distribution list, please contact
Chris Sykes.
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Employment Opportunities
Applying for state government jobs is easy. Applications are electronic, you will receive updates, and you do not need to answer any written questions until it is determined that you meet the minimum qualifications.
Check out the
website for State of Colorado jobs including the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing jobs.
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Welcome to the November 2017 edition of At a Glance!
Thank you for your interest!
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Accountable Care Collaborative Phase II Update
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The next phase of the Accountable Care Collaborative (ACC) seeks to leverage the proven successes of Health First Colorado programs to enhance the member and provider experience. The goals of the next phase are to improve health and life outcomes of members while using state resources wisely.
The Department is pleased to announce the protest period associated with the Request for Proposal for the Regional Accountable Entities (RAEs) for the next iteration of the ACC has ended. The entities listed below will be awarded contracts.
The Department has made available online the proposals from each of the awarded entities on CO.gov/HCPF/ACCPhase2.
The Department continues to prepare for the implementation of the next phase of the ACC and will be immediately focusing on contract negotiations with the new vendors. After the beginning of the new year, the Department will begin sharing more detailed information and plans to help providers and stakeholders prepare for the program transition.
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Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+): Communication Timelines, Resources, and How You Can Help
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As you may be aware, if Congress does not renew federal funding, CHP+ in Colorado will end on January 31, 2018.
At this time, there are no changes to CHP+ eligibility or the CHP+ program
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Member Communications
How You Can Help
We ask that you utilize your CHP+ member communication vehicles, to inform CHP+ members of the possible end to the program and help educate members of what they can expect. The Department has developed CHP+ member messaging that is available on
CO.gov/HCPF/FutureCHP
. These resources include talking points, phone hold messaging, social media posts, newsletter content, and FAQs.
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Child Health Plan Plus Webinars
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Future of CHP+ Recorded Webinar
The Department has made available on
CO.gov/HCPF/FutureCHP a recorded webinar. The webinar is facilitated by Gretchen Hammer, Medicaid Director, and provides members, providers, stakeholders, advocates, eligibility partners and counties information about the future of CHP+. The recording will go over what you need to know about CHP+ and possible changes to the program if Congress does not act to renew federal funding. The information in this recording is current as of November 20, 2017.
Save the Date: December Live Webinars
The Department will be hosting two informational webinars in December. The first will be for providers and managed care organizations. The second webinar will be co-hosted with Connect for Health Colorado for eligibility partners, counties and stakeholders.
The purpose of the webinars is to provide additional policy and operational information to our partners regarding the possible end to CHP+. The webinars will be tailored by audience and will provide an opportunity for participants to ask questions via chat. The webinars will be recorded and posted on
CO.gov/HCPF/FutureCHP.
- Provider & CHP+ Managed Care Organization Webinar: December 12, 2017 1:30-2:30 p.m. Registration-coming soon!
- Stakeholder, Advocate, County and Eligibility Partner Webinar: December 13, 2017 12:00-1:00 p.m. Registration-coming soon!
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Help wanted! Members Needed for Department Advisory Councils
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Member Experience Advisory Councils
for Health First Colorado (Colorado's Medicaid Program) and Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+) help the Department develop and maintain a culture of person-centeredness by engaging the voices of members, family members and caretakers who have little or no previous experience collaborating with the Department.
"Meeting after meeting it's great to feel like our opinions matter. We're asked our opinions and we get to see things changing." - Advisory Council member
The
In-Person Advisory Council
meets no more than once a month in Denver. Members receive travel reimbursement and gift card incentives for participation.
The
Virtual Advisory Council
provides feedback to the Department via email, surveys or other online forums. Members receive gift card incentives for participation.
Please help us recruit
Health First Colorado and CHP+ members or their family members/caretakers to apply. More information is on our website
Colorado.gov/HCPF/MEAC
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Tobacco Cessation Medications Now Available Without a Co-pay
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Health First Colorado will no longer require a co-pay for tobacco cessation medications. A prior authorization request (PAR) must be submitted in most instances for over the counter and prescription medications.
Health First Colorado providers can prescribe any of the seven FDA-approved nicotine replacement therapy and non-nicotine containing medications, all of which are on the Medicaid formulary and available to any Health First Colorado member at participating local pharmacies:
- Nicotine patch, nicotine gum, nicotine lozenge,nicotine nasal spray, and nicotineinhaler.
- Bupropion SR tablets (generic of Zyban) andVarenicline Tartrate tablets (generic ofChantix). This product will be co-pay exempt when a diagnosis code for smoking cessation is on the incoming claim (ICD10 Disease Group=F17 ; ICD10 Code Z87.891, Z72.0).
Health First Colorado covers tobacco cessation counseling services for members who smoke or are at risk of smoking, also without co-pay.
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Co-Pay Limit for Health First Colorado Members
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Health First Colorado now notifies members by mail when their household has met its co-pay maximum for the month.
The co-pay maximum is five percent of the household monthly income.
The head of household will receive a letter stating that the household has reached the monthly limit and how the limit was calculated. Once a member has paid five percent of their monthly household income on co-pays in a month, no one in the household pays co-pays for the rest of that month.
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Colorado interChange Update
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The Department has been conducting increased provider outreach to better understand the issues affecting providers with the implementation of the Colorado interChange.
In response to those discussions and forums, we'd like share the following resources which address some of the most frequently mentioned topics. For providers who are wanting the most timely and up to date information, we suggest they subscribe to receive emails from the Department.
- Here's a link to our Read Your RA Quick Guide. We recognize this Quick Guide does not address all concerns with the RA so we are scheduling a webinar to better support billing staff with the new document. Additionally, the Department is working with DXC to reformat the RA to be more user-friendly.
- The Department will be publishing a webinar to address upcoming changes with co-payments. The webinar will clarify the changes and include instructions on how to check co-pay information in the Provider Web Portal
- The Department frequently communicates about the availability for interim payments to providers experiencing financial difficulties. More information is available in this FAQ document.
- The Department understands Timely Filing has been a topic of confusion for many providers. The Department published a clarifying article in the October 2017 edition of the Provider Bulletin. You can also find FAQs on this site under the Timely Filing FAQs heading.
- The Department and DXC have published a variety of resources, including step-by-step instructions with screenshots for frequent tasks and Provider Web Portal training videos, related to using the Provider Web Portal. In addition to these resources, DXC will be scheduling provider training sessions in the next few weeks. You'll find that schedule here.
The Department will continue to collect feedback from providers and use their input to adjust provider communications and develop training materials to address needs.
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Partnerships to Improve Population Health
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A Message from Connect for Health Colorado: Financial Help Still Available for 2018
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Contrary to what you may have heard, financial help is still available for 2018. You may have heard that the current administration has decided to end Cost-Sharing Reduction payments. These payments are reimbursements to health insurance companies. It does NOT affect Cost-Sharing Reductions for our customers who receive them.
In fact, customers receiving financial help through Connect for Health Colorado will likely pay less in 2018 than in 2017. They will see the premium that they pay (full premium minus the Premium Tax Credit amount) go down by 20% on average in 2018.
Open Enrollment is November 1, 2017 - January 12, 2018.
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Delivery Systems Innovation
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In Summer 2017, Colorado launched four regional No Wrong Door (NWD) pilot sites to test a model for streamlining access to long-term services and supports.
To help inform future, statewide implementation of a NWD system, pilot sites were asked to share their lessons learned and milestones based on the first three months of pilot site operations. Lessons learned and milestones include focusing on more tangible solutions to: align partners, combine collective knowledge on an electronic platform, and coordinate overall agency operations while understanding that developing a more efficient way to work together takes time.
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Disability Competent Care Resources Now Available
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Better understand the barriers persons with disabilities face when accessing Primary Care, and learn easy, tax-advantaged ways to improve your practice. Hear from members about the value and practice of delivering Disability Competent Care (DCC), or take your practice to the next level and complete the
Colorado Disability Competent Care self-assessment tool.
Providing Disability-Competent Care can benefit your practice in many ways:
- Listening to patients' needs and building trust can lead to cost savings over time, as patients' health needs are better met.
- Certain improvements are eligible for tax write-offs and other financial incentives.
- Providing DCC can reduce the likelihood of litigation, since the American Disability Act (ADA) requires that providers maintain equal access.
- Learning DCC will help you be a better clinician.
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Alternative Payment Model for Primary Care Survey is Live
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The web page also has pre-survey instructions, links to resources including the APM Survival Guide, and a short video demonstrating how to use the APM model.
The survey will remain open through January 31, 2018.
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Alternative Payment Model Implementation Workgroup
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As the Department moves forward with the Alternative Payment Model (APM), a workgroup is forming to assist with the implementation of the APM. Similar to the process used to design the APM, the Department is looking for representation from primary care physicians, primary care practice coordinators, office managers, and Regional Care Collaborative Organization representatives. The group would provide feedback and input on how best to implement the APM and help the Department understand the impact of operational decisions.
The time commitment would be one 60-90 minute meeting every other month. A kick-off meeting was held on November 20, 2017. M
eetings will be scheduled every other month moving forward. There will be a call-in option for those unable to attend in person.
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| Colorado's Health IT Roadmap Update & Survey |
Colorado's Health IT Roadmap
- a 16 month-long collaborative effort led by the Office of eHealth Innovation (OeHI) and steered by the eHealth Commission- has concluded its planning phase.
The Roadmap was developed with input from over 1,000 stakeholders from many Colorado communities, both rural and urban. Colorado's Health IT Roadmap has been reviewed and approved by both the Governor's Office and eHealth Commission, and now enters the implementation phase. View the Roadmap or
request a printed copy of Colorado's Health IT Roadmap
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The Colorado Health IT Roadmap will provide strategic direction for the state of Colorado in ways that will most effectively support Colorado's Triple Aim - best care, best health, best value. The Roadmap identifies 16 initiatives which will help to advance the health information infrastructure of Colorado.
One of the Roadmap initiatives is to improve person identity matching to better coordinate and improve care, reduce costs, and improve data integrity. OeHI, through the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF), released a draft Request for Proposal for a Master Patient Index for public comment at the beginning of November. We want to thank everyone for their valuable feedback. A summary of comments will be presented at an upcoming eHealth Commission meeting.
Please take our survey
Care Coordination has also been determined as a state-wide priority in the Colorado Health IT Roadmap. The initiative focuses on leveraging and aligning technology, projects and processes. To better understand the challenges around care coordination, the Office of eHealth Innovation is asking for your help in completing the Care Coordination survey.
Completing
this brief 10-minute survey
will provide valuable information to OeHI that will inform the planning and implementation of the Care Coordination Initiative.
OeHI continues to advance work in several other areas identified as priorities for the Roadmap, such as electronic clinical quality measures, a program management office, and a statewide master provider directory.
The eHealth Commission will continue to advise and guide the implementation of Colorado's Health IT Roadmap as our state continues to advance the health of all Coloradans.
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The Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing complies with applicable federal and state civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, ethnic or national origin, ancestry, age, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, religion, creed, political beliefs, or disability. Learn more about our Nondiscrimination Policy.
ATENCIÓN: si habla español, tiene a su disposición servicios gratuitos de asistencia lingüística. Llame al 1-800-221-3943 (State Relay: 711).
CHÚ Ý: Nếu bạn nói Tiếng Việt, có các dịch vụ hỗ trợ ngôn ngữ miễn phí dành cho bạn. Gọi số 1-800-221-3943 (State Relay: 711).
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At a Glance
