The pandemic has challenged our health care system, but it has also provided us the opportunity to innovate for a better, healthier and more inclusive future. In that spirit, I’m excited to share that we received both CMS and JBC approval of our American Rescue Plan Act Home & Community Based Services (HCBS) spending plan to enhance, expand, and strengthen Health First Colorado’s (Colorado’s Medicaid program) ability to serve members with disabilities in a home or community-based setting. Many thanks to stakeholders for your collaboration throughout this process. More information is at hcpf.colorado.gov/arpa. Please join us in celebrating this accomplishment and the improvements it will create!

I also want to recognize that October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month, which commemorates the contributions of people with disabilities to our workplaces and the economy. A related initiative that is part of our HCBS spending plan includes extending and expanding the Supported Employment program, which supports Coloradans with disabilities to find and succeed in employment. As a standard, we also work to ensure employment is the first and preferred option for every member on the Developmental Disability and Supported Living Services Medicaid waivers.

Our members’ voices are vital to furthering inclusion in our programs. I had the pleasure of recently meeting with our Member Experience Advisory Council, whose insights serve as a key part of our strategic process and quest for continuous improvement. I’d also ask that you help us reduce the Eligible-But-Not-Enrolled (EBNE) in Medicaid population by playing this video, Samantha's Story, in your appropriate public messaging places (like waiting rooms). Thank you for your partnership on this important work, and look for the report from the Colorado Health Institute in October that will update our state’s uninsured rate.

To achieve the Governor’s goal of A Colorado for All, we have continued to identify our baseline health disparities data. That has helped inform our top health equity priorities: COVID-19 vaccination rates, maternal health outcomes and behavioral health outcomes. On the vaccine front, addressing the current 25-point vaccination rate gap between Medicaid members and the state population overall is critical to reducing spread, hospitalizations, and deaths among low-income Coloradans and people of color. Please feel free to incorporate this short slide presentation into your related messaging presentations. Thank you for your partnership in this key messaging to reduce avoidable hospitalizations.

On closing maternity disparities, last month, we released a first-of-its-kind Health First Colorado Maternity Report. Health First Colorado is the primary source of health coverage for more than 40% of births in the state each year. Our maternity event, which included expert speakers and panelists, identified several opportunities where we can partner with care providers, advocates, policymakers, and Coloradans to work toward improved outcomes. We also invite you to keep abreast of the good work evolving through the Behavioral Health Task Force, Behavioral Health Administration and Behavioral Health Transformational Task Force.

Thank you for all you are doing to improve the health and well-being of our Health First Colorado and Child Health Plan Plus members. We appreciate your collaborative partnership! 

Dear Community Partners and Stakeholders,

The Department of Health Care Policy & Financing (Department) received approval from CMS and the Colorado Joint Budget Committee to use $530 million from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to implement initiatives to enhance, expand, and strengthen Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) in Colorado over the next three years. Read the news here.

The Department’s plan categorizes 72 funded initiatives into the following areas as prioritized by our stakeholders:

Following last week’s announcement, I wanted to connect with our stakeholders, who are especially interested in behavioral health, to let you know of the extraordinary news and to thank you for your collaboration during the planning stage. Your valuable insights and guidance helped the Department develop a meaningful, actionable plan that will ultimately benefit the lives of so many Colorado residents. With this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, the Department will be able to reimagine the HCBS system and extend support to residents where they are most comfortable -- in their home or community setting.

Now, the work toward transforming the HCBS system begins. Specifically, the Department plans to invest almost $75 million toward enhancing and expanding behavioral health services across the state. The Department will create more capacity for intensive services, step-down programming out of residential and correctional settings, and invest in bolstering the recruitment and retention of a high-quality, culturally competent behavioral health workforce in Colorado. The funding also includes policy planning and development of pilots to build out sustainable benefits that better support services for individuals with co-occurring medical and behavioral health needs.

This crucial work, along with the Department’s other ARPA initiatives, is an extraordinary opportunity. We look forward to partnering with you as the Department moves from planning to implementation and turning this historic investment into a reality. Visit the Department’s ARPA webpage to find out more about the plan, its implementation and progress.

Thank you,

Visit the Department's ARPA website for more information.

Feeling anxious about your upcoming Management Evaluation (ME) review? We’ve got you covered! The Continuous Improvement Team is partnering with the ME Team to help prepare your site. These sessions will:

All Eligibility Sites are encouraged to have two or three staff members participate. Participants can range from Director to Technician. Please select the key staff that will benefit. Those attending will need to RSVP through CO Learn. Please be on the lookout for an RSVP communication with sign-up details.

Another communication with the RSVP link will be sent out within two weeks from the date of this Save the Date being sent out.

Contact: For any questions, please contact the Continuous Improvement team at hcpf_performance.improvement@state.co.us.

Phase 2 of the PEAK Modernization Initiative, which includes a new Dashboard for clients and changes to Document Upload capabilities in PEAK as well as a new Verification Identifier field in the CBMS PEAK Inbox, went live in PEAK on Oct. 9, 2021.

In response to your feedback, state leadership has continued the process of improving the usability of Colorado’s Program Eligibility and Application Kit (PEAK) system through the multi-phase PEAK Modernization Initiative. The first phase of PEAK modernization went live in April of 2021 and included changes to the look-and-feel of key pages PEAK users interact with prior to signing into their PEAK account.

Phase 2 will continue to improve the PEAK user experience by enhancing and modernizing some of the pages clients interact with inside of their PEAK account. This phase contains two projects which will create a new Dashboard in PEAK, and improve PEAK’s Document Upload capabilities. Phase 2 also brings one screen change to CBMS. These improvements will hopefully serve to reduce the call volume that Eligibility Sites receive. Some specific enhancements include:

Please see the attached PEAK Modernization Phase 2 Changes FAQs document for more information.

The CBMS Change Management and Communications Team and the PEAK Outreach Team will keep you updated throughout this change with CBMS Communications, Snack Breaks, Queue articles, Knowledge Transfer calls, updated PEAK User Guides, and other resources. Please check PEAKOutreach.com for additional information.

The Team will be hosting a series of NEW PEAK Modernization Functions Lunch & Learns for this project. Please see below for calendar and dial-in information:

Please look out for additional information on the PEAK Modernization project in the coming weeks and months.

Contact: If you have questions or concerns regarding this project, please contact us at cbms.liaison@state.co.us. If you know of someone who would benefit from this information, please feel free to forward this communication and any attachments.

This toolkit was created for anyone to use to spread the word that expanded tax credits can help lift up to 40% of Colorado families out of poverty. The toolkit contains English and Spanish language messages, a flyer for distribution in physical settings, and sample newsletter and text message content. Please share with your networks and families who could benefit from these new cash-back resources!

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government declared a Public Health Emergency (PHE). As a result, most Health First Colorado and Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+) members have remained enrolled (known as “locked-in”) and have been eligible to receive benefits during the PHE.

At the end of the PHE, these members will require an eligibility review within the timeframe given by our federal partners at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).The Department has approved funding for the Overflow Processing (OPC), which will assist counties with the end of PHE workload and then will continue to assist with backlogs of Health First Colorado and CHP+ applications, eligibility determinations, and redeterminations.

After a thorough application process, Prowers County has been selected as the vendor for the OPC. The OPC will be located in Granada, CO, and is a different entity from Prowers Department of Human Services (DHS).

We continue to engage with our eligibility site representatives to develop and finalize processes for the OPC around implementation and workflow to ensure quality, timeliness and customer experience. We are working towards an anticipated operational start date at the end of 2021/beginning of 2022. It is the Department’s goal to keep counties and eligibility sites informed about the OPC and to continue to partner with you through the challenges resulting from the pandemic.

For more information, contact Daniel Smith.

All Memos and their attachments can be found on the Memo Series website.

PM 21-006

The purpose of this Policy Memo is to inform eligibility sites of the income and resource

eligibility rules for the Advance Child Tax Credit (CTC) for tax year 2021, expanded by

the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). This memo includes guidance for all Medical

Assistance eligibility categories. Please share this memo with all eligibility staff,

supervisors, and outside agencies as appropriate.

OM 21-067

The purpose of this Operational Memo is to inform county human/social services

leadership and financial staff of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and

Financing’s FY 2021-22 County Budget Amendment (BA)-10 for the Public Health

Emergency (PHE) Locked-In, including allocations for enhanced and non-enhanced

funding and expenditure codes for the County Financial Management System (CFMS).

This funding is available only to manage Medical Assistance (MA) workload related to

the COVID-19 PHE and the associated federal continuous coverage provisions.

OM 21-058

The purpose of this memo is to inform authorized individuals/entities, such as county

departments of social/human services, Medical Assistance (MA) sites, Eligibility

Application Partner (EAP) sites, and anyone who processes applications of the change

regarding Compact of Free Association (COFA) individuals being eligible for medical

coverage.

OM 21-057

The purpose of this Operational Memo is to provide amended guidance to the eligibility sites regarding their responsibilities when responding to documentation requests and findings from the Medical Assistance Eligibility Quality Assurance (EQA) unit.

OM 21-056

The purpose of this memo is to provide county department of human /social services and medical assistance sites with general information about Emergency Medicaid provided through health First Colorado. Additionally, this memo will outline the eligibility criteria for Emergency Medicaid, how people can submit their applications, as well as a brief explanation of covered emergency services. This guidance is intended for all teams who are working in-person, online or over the phone. Please share this memo with anyone who works with Health First Colorado applicants and members.

OM 21-055

The purpose of this Operational Memo is to inform Non-Emergent Medical

Transportation (NEMT) providers and county Departments of Human Services of

operational instructions to transition NEMT administration from IntelliRide to local NEMT

providers.

OM 21-051

This Operational Memo provides procedural clarification to all eligibility sites regarding

medical assistance applications.

All medical assistance applications must go through the same eligibility determination

process, including medical assistance applications submitted for the sole

purpose of obtaining a denial in order to receive benefits under the Colorado

Indigent Care Program (CICP).

OM 21-049

The purpose of this Operational Memo is to inform Home and Community-Based

Services (HCBS) Day Habilitation provider agencies, Residential Habilitation Services

(RHSS) providers, and Case Management Agencies (CMAs), that the Department of

Health Care Policy & Financing (Department) is amending the temporary changes and

flexibilities previously approved in response to the COVID-19 pandemic by removing the

allowance for residential providers to provide Supported Community Connections

services to members who reside in their home. Furthermore, this Operational Memo

provides additional guidance for in-person services and clarity on how virtual Day

Habilitation services are to be provided through the end of the Department’s Appendix

K approval.

IM 21-051

The purpose of this Informational Memo is to provide county Department of Human

Service (DHS) agencies an update from the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy

& Financing (Department) regarding a single county transferring from one CCB

catchment area to another and information regarding the new agency that will be

providing CCB services. Please see the accompanying chart for agency information.

IM 21-047

The purpose of this Informational Memo is to provide county departments of

social/human services (counties) and county child welfare staff with information on

children’s Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) waivers, so that they might

increase referrals to Case Management Agencies (CMAs) for HCBS waivers assessments.