County Connections Newsletter
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This Department of Health Care Policy & Financing newsletter is designed to inform county directors, management and staff about county performance, policy changes, process updates, upcoming due dates, and more
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High-Impact Policy and Process Updates
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Health Care Policy and Financing Transition to Google
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The Department of Health Care Policy & Financing (the Department) transitioned from Outlook to Google on January 13, 2020.
Email Addresses:
- To contact Department staff, be sure to use @state.co.us
- Other emails outside of @state.co.us may not reach their destination
Encrypted Emails:
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HCPF Regional Meetings on Substance Use Disorder Treatment Capacity
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The Department continues its series of regional stakeholder meetings in January and February 2020. At these public meetings, the Department will be presenting information on substance se Disorder (SUD) treatment capacity and hearing from community members about the needs in that local area.
The regional meetings serve as opportunities for the public to provide input and ask questions about the implementation of coverage for residential and inpatient SUD treatment and withdrawal management services. Treatment providers, local government officials, partner agencies, and interested members of the public are invited to attend.
A call-in option will be available for some of the meetings. Please see information on the
Department's SUD webpage
to register for the meeting of your choice.
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SB 19-195 Update: Enhancing Children and Youth Behavioral Health Services
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The Department has filled four of the five positions appropriated through SB19-195. The Child and Youth Behavioral Health Specialist is starting in January and the Child and Youth Specialist for the Office of Community Living started this month.
The Department and the Office of Behavioral Health jointly hosted the first SB19-195 stakeholder forum on Dec. 9, 2019, which was attended by over 60 people. Presentation materials for this forum and a recording of the forum webinar are available below under “Links”.
The Concept Paper is expected to be ready to share with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and our stakeholders after the new year.
After attempting to use an expedited procurement process through the Department’s Project Based Health Care Contracts List, the Department has decided to pursue a lengthier Direct Quote process for procuring a vendor. By using the Direct Quote procurement process, the Department can engage a broader and more competitive vendor pool. The Department is currently developing the Statement of Work and timeline for this contract.
Over the past month the Department has conducted meetings with System of Care leaders from five other states as part of a national scan of high-fidelity wraparound services, which continues to further broaden the pool of data available to inform design and implementation processes for SB19-195.
Sign up for the
e-mail list
to receive announcements about stakeholder engagement forums. The Department continues to engage in regular meetings with the Office of Behavioral Health to align stakeholder work.
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Fiscal Year 2018-19 County Fact Sheets Now Available
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These documents provide an annual snapshot by fiscal year of Health First Colorado (Colorado's Medicaid Program) activity including average annual caseload and top five claim types for each county. The data on the fact sheets is for fiscal year 2018-2019 unless otherwise noted and will be updated annually when new data is available.
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HCPF 2020 Legislative Agenda
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A summary of the Department's legislative agenda submitted to the Colorado General Assembly for consideration is now available on our
website.
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Recent Memo Series Issued to Counties
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OM 19-061
The purpose of this Operational Memo (OM) is to inform county departments of human/social services of operational instructions relating to the use of the Work Number income verification system for Medical Assistance-only cases and provide direction if the expenditures related to these verifications are eligible for Federal Financial Participation (FFP) and reimbursement with State funds.
OM 20-002
The purpose of this operational memo is to advise eligibility sites of the increased resource limits for Qualified Medicare Beneficiaries (QMB), Specified Low Income Medicare Beneficiaries (SLMB), Qualified Individuals (QI-1), and Low-Income Subsidy (LIS) resource limits.
OM 20-001
The purpose for this operational memo is to communicate to eligibility sites on how Difficulty of Care payments are calculated for the individual’s income eligibility for MAGI and Non-MAGI based eligibility categories of Health First Colorado (Colorado’s Medicaid Program) and Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+).
OM 19-061
The purpose of this Operational Memo is to inform eligibility sites of the discontinuance of the Medicaid Eligibility Quality Improvement Plan (MEQIP).
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IM 20-004
The purpose of this Informational Memo is to provide interested stakeholders a status update from Department regarding the SEP RFP awardee selection and formal protest activities for all Regions/Districts posted in the October 2019 solicitation.
IM 20-001
The purpose of this Informational Memo is to provide interested stakeholders a status update from the Department regarding the SEP RFP process.
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Department Informational Updates
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Colorado Benefits Management System (CBMS) Transformation
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January CBMS Transformation
Queue
Newsletter
This month’s Queue
features the CBMS/PEAK Process Improvement Prioritization Survey, County Dashboard, and PEAK Chatbot.
Key Build information, document, and feedback links are displayed in the boxes in the left-hand margin. The bottom box will always display Sudoku links.
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Hospital Transformation Program (HTP) Update
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On December 31, 2019, the Department submitted both the Hospital Transformation Program (HTP) 1115 demonstration waiver application and the State Plan Amendment (SPA) to the CMS. This is a big milestone for HTP and we’d like to thank stakeholders, hospitals and community partners for their participation in the process. The next steps in the process involves a 30-day federal comment period and well as the Department working with CMS to address any questions that arise during this period.
The waiver is currently posted for federal public comment on the
CMS website
.
HTP Road Show training for hospitals
The HTP team will be traveling around the state for in-person trainings to review the requirements and answer questions for hospitals participating in the HTP. Please see the
attached flyer
and with the dates and locations of these trainings. Additional details will be forthcoming in future HTP Newsletters.
Community Advisory Council
The Community Advisory Council continues to meet on a monthly basis. Notes and agendas from December meeting can be found on the
Community Advisory Council website
. We'd like to thank council members for their thoughtful feedback and recommendations since the group was formed in September 2019. Questions about the council should be directed to the Community Advisory Council
email box
.
If you’re like to know more about the HTP, we encourage you to visit
the HTP website
as well as read past editions of the HTP Newsletter in
our online archives
. If you have additional questions about the HTP, please contact
Courtney Ronner
, Hospital Relations and Communication Manager.
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Third Party Liability (TPL) Desk Aid Available
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The Staff Development Center has released a
Third Party Liability (TPL) Desk Aid
for county eligibility staff. You can access the released materials through the Center's website,
TrainColorado.com
, in the Document Library.
For TPL, it is crucial that eligibility workers update the correct sections of CBMS with the customer’s information to be sure the customer’s benefits are being accurately calculated. This
Desk Aid
was created to assist eligibility workers in navigating this process.
If you need additional information or have questions regarding this communication, please contact the Staff Development Center at
SOC_StaffDevelopment@state.co.us
.
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Public Rule Review Meeting
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Public Rule Review meetings
are an opportunity for stakeholders to have one-on-one conversation with the Department's rule author regarding draft rules.
Public Rule Review meetings take place on the second Monday after the second Friday of each month. Stakeholders can attend in person or can e-mail feedback to the rule author before the rule goes to the Medical Services Board (MSB).
This does not take the place of public testimony at the MSB meeting and anyone who wishes is invited to come to the meeting to address the Board directly.
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County Grant & County Incentives Programs
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FY 2019-20 County Incentive Program
New Resources
- December's Food Security SNAP individual report was sent to counties on Dec. 6. Please contact the county team if you need help accessing this report.
- Monthly Aggregate data for the Food Security Incentive be found on the County Admin webpage under "Incentives Program Data"
- December's Case Maintenance Data reports have been posted to the County Admin webpage under "Incentives Program Data"
Updates
- The Department has applied a statewide exemption to any county who did not meet the Eligibility Performance Incentive for the months of September, October, and November of 2019.
- Exemption Requests and instructions have been sent to all counties who did not meet Eligibility Performance Incentive benchmarks for July, August, and December 2019.
- The Department will send counties a list of all individuals subject to the Training Incentive requirements in January.
- There is no deliverable required for the Cybersecurity Incentive for Reporting Period 1. Further guidance will is coming soon.
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FY 2019-20 County Grant Program
- Quarter 3 grant check ins will be scheduled for March/April.
- The Quarterly Check In matrix has changed! Please use the updated form when turning in quarterly check in documentation.
MA Supervisor Backlog Targeted Grant
- 25+ counties and 125+ supervisors opted into the Department's targeted grant to help counties work their Medicaid backlog.
- All funding is currently allocated to counties who have opted in. If another opportunity to opt in is available, the county team will communicate directly to counties.
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Timeliness for December 2019
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Timeliness for all Medical Assistance
applications
was measured at
92.65 percent
.
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Timeliness for all Medical Assistance
redeterminations
was measured at
96.81 percent
.
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Department Contacts & Resources
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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).
For further information about this policy, to request free disability and/or language aids and services, or to file a discrimination complaint, contact:
504/ADA Coordinator
1570 Grant St
Denver, CO 80203
Phone: 303-866-6010, Fax: 303-866-2828, State Relay: 711
Civil rights complaints can also be filed with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights electronically through the
Office for Civil Rights Complaint Portal
or by mail, phone, or fax at:
1961 Stout Street Room 08-148
Denver, CO 80294
Telephone: 800-368-1019, Fax: 202-619-3818, TDD: 800-537-7697
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Colorado Dept. of Health Care Policy & Financing
(303) 866-2993 | 1570 Grant Street, Denver, CO 80203
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