General Assembly Newsletter
Stay up-to-date on what's new at HCPF with this newsletter created specifically for the Colorado General Assembly. 

Please contact Zach Lynkiewicz if you have questions or need help with constituent issues. 
Legislative Session Wrap-Up

The Department of Health Care Policy & Financing would like to thank all legislators for their hard work this session. With their support, we passed the following Department agenda bills:
  • SB17-091: Align Statute with Federal Home Health Rules sponsored by Rep. Ginal, Sen. Crowder and Sen. Moreno
  • HB17-1139: Improve Program Integrity Efforts sponsored by Rep. Landgraf, Rep. Michaelson Jenet, Sen. Kefalas and Sen. Martinez Humenik
  • HB17-1343 (run as a JBC bill): Implement Conflict-free Case Management sponsored by Rep. Young and Sen. Moreno
Moving forward, this newsletter will be published on a quarterly basis outside of the legislative session.  We will return to publishing it monthly during the next legislative session, beginning in January 2018. 
Contingency Planning for CHP+ Funding 

The Department has been monitoring congressional action on the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which provides funding for approximately 140,000 Colorado children and pregnant women through the Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+) program and Medicaid. Earlier this month we sent a letter from Director Birch to Colorado's congressional delegation regarding the future funding of CHIP, which is set to expire at the end of September.  You can read that letter here .

Since the funding decision deadline is after the Colorado General Assembly's regular session, we will continue to update health committees and the Joint Budget Committee over the interim on congressional action related to the future of CHIP.   
Accountable Care Collaborative Request for Proposals Now Available

The Department has released the formal request for proposals (RFP) for seven Regional Accountable Entities for the next iteration of the Accountable Care Collaborative. We have made the scope of work of the RFP available for viewing on our Accountable Care Collaborative Phase II website .

In accordance with State procurement rules , the Department may only respond to questions from potential bidders regarding the RFP through the official inquiry process. The Department is also limited in publicly discussing the RFP outside of the official inquiry process until contract awards are formally announced and all protests and appeals are settled.

Potential bidders must access the RFP using the State's procurement website , and then click "Public Access." The deadline for proposal submission is July 28, 2017.
COMMIT Update

Since March 1st, more than 9.3 million claims have been processed in the new Colorado interChange and we have paid providers more than $1.2 billion. During our most recent cycle, which ran on May 5th, a total of 833,963 claims were processed and $118,613,382 was paid to providers.  Sixty-one percent of all claims submitted were paid during this cycle. Based on historic trends under the old system, we would expect about 85 percent of all claims submitted to be paid. That remains our goal for the new system, as well, and based on implementations in other states this goal will be reached within six to nine months after implementation. The Department has never paid 100 percent of submitted claims due to a variety of factors, including everything from errors in submissions to requests for reimbursement for services not covered.

We know issues persist and we want to address those. Here is some of the action the Department is taking:

Interim Payments for Providers in Financial Distress: Call center options now include a direct pathway to requesting interim payments from the Department while provider issues are resolved. Interim payments are meant to provide temporary relief to providers until their claims are processed correctly; they are not meant to offset the balance of claims billed to the Department. Struggling providers can call the Health First Colorado Provider Call Center at 1-844-235-2387 and select option 2 to speak with an agent, and then option 4 to inquire about interim payment options.

Call Center Wait Times: With the hiring of additional staff in the call center, wait times are continuing to decrease. On Monday (5/8) the call center handled 1,012 calls - nearly half were complex claims questions and issues - and did so with an average speed of answer for all call types just under 2 minutes and a maximum hold time of 23 minutes.  We understand that wait times continue to present a challenge to providers and their staff. We have and will continue to dedicate serious attention to reducing hold times, as well as attempting to provide issue resolution in just one contact wherever possible. Please urge providers to continue to use the call center at 1-844-235-2387 as the path to the quickest resolution of their issues.

We have also published a  Known Issues page which tracks the resolution progress on the most impactful known issues. 
American Health Care Act

The Department has been closely following the passage of the American Health Care Act by the House of Representatives, federal legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.  The Kaiser Family Foundation has released a detailed comparison of the ACA and AHCA, which you can access here . We will continue to monitor the progress of this bill as it goes through the Senate. 
HCPF Submits New Report to the Joint Budget Committee

HCPF submitted its annual Medicaid Provider Rate Review Report to the Joint Budget Committee earlier this month. It contains rate comparisons and assessments for physician services, surgeries, anesthesia and Home- and Community-Based Services (HCBS) waivers.
Legislator Resource Center

As a reminder, our Legislator Resource Center  on our website is available to help legislators and legislative staff easily find information. It includes links to reports, fact sheets and overviews of the budget process.  We hope you find them helpful and informative.
Follow HCPF on Social Media

We hope you will follow us on social media to stay informed of news and happenings at the Department.  You can follow us on Facebook , Twitter and LinkedIn . 
Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing  
(303) 866-2993 | 1570 Grant Street, Denver, CO 80203
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