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The Office of Community Living (OCL) within the Department of Health Care Policy & Financing (HCPF) has the following information to share below:
Announcements:
- Benefits Planning Services and Resources
- Creating Equitable Access within Colorado’s Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS)
- REMINDER: Direct Care Workers Satisfaction and Engagement Survey!
- REMINDER: HCPF Stakeholder Forum on Nov. 28, 2023 - Discuss the Hospital Community Benefit (HB23-1243)
- REMINDER: 2023 National Core Indicator (NCI) - State of the Workforce Survey - Aging and Disabilities: Data Collection Closes on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023
Memos:
- Disenrollment of Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) Participants
- Enrollment Denial of Potential Participants of PACE
- PACE Participant Adverse, Automatic, and Expedite Appeals
American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)-Related Meetings:
- REMINDER: Direct Care Workforce Collaborative (DCWC) Compensation and Benefits Action Group
- REMINDER: Quarterly ARPA Updates Webinar - All Stakeholders
- ⚠️ CANCELED: Older Adults Stakeholder Meeting - Dec. 21, 2023
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Benefits Planning Services and Resources
In honor of National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM), the Colorado Chapter of the Association of People Supporting Employment First (APSE) launched a Benefits Planning Awareness Campaign. Colorado APSE created several resources, including a brief video, two infographics, and some talking points focused on elevating awareness around Benefits Planning. Trained Benefits Planners can help people with disabilities and their support networks better understand how employment and other life decisions may impact an individual's benefits.
In July 2023, Benefits Planning was added to the Developmental Disabilities (DD) and Supported Living Services (SLS) Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Medicaid Waivers and State SLS program.
Thank you, Colorado APSE, for raising awareness about this important service! Check out the created materials here.
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Creating Equitable Access within Colorado’s Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS)
HCPF and the Office of Community Living are excited to announce the publications of key project reports and recommendations for the ARPA 3.01 Equity Study. The purpose of this engagement and the recommendations was to create opportunities for HCPF to serve members and eligible Coloradans with disabilities more fully and more equitably.
The engagement was designed to achieve three outcomes:
- Building and strengthening relationships with community partners
- Understanding members’ and advocates’ experiences
- Identifying community-driven solutions
More information about the project, project results, and key documents/reports is on the ARPA HCBS Initiative 3.01 - Equity Study page.
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REMINDER: Direct Care Workers Satisfaction and Engagement Survey!
We want to hear from the direct care workforce to understand their satisfaction with wages, compensation, benefits, career advancement, training, and job fulfillment.
The survey cycle began Monday, Oct. 2, 2023, and will remain open for at least 30 days. This year’s survey questions incorporate feedback from the first survey. All data collected is confidential. The data collected will be used to support workforce initiatives and provide data for future analysis, budget projections, policy planning, stakeholder engagement and improve quality assurances.
The survey will be available by email and survey link. If you are a direct care worker and want to take part, please contact email hcpf_dcworkforce@state.co.us to request a link.
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REMINDER: HCPF Stakeholder Forum on Nov. 28, 2023 - Discuss the
Hospital Community Benefit (HB23-1243)
HCPF, in partnership with the Colorado Health Institute (CHI), seeks feedback on best practices for nonprofit hospitals to ensure diverse input from local community members in determining community priorities and best practices to collaborate and reduce redundant community needs assessments.
HCPF seeks feedback from nonprofit hospitals and health systems, community-based organizations and advocacy groups, local public health agencies, community health care providers, and others interested in hospital community benefit.
The meeting will be convened virtually via Zoom. Please register to receive details prior to the meeting. CHI will facilitate these sessions and is accepting written feedback or questions in advance at focusgroups@coloradohealthinstitute.org.
More information on hospital community benefit accountability is available on HCPF’s Hospital Community Benefit Accountability page.
The session will be held:
Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023
8 to 9:30 a.m. MT
Register Here
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REMINDER: 2023 National Core Indicator (NCI) - State of the Workforce Survey - Aging and Disabilities:
Data Collection Closes on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023
HCPF will be launching the NCI State of the Workforce (SotW) Survey for Direct Care Workforce Agencies serving members enrolled on the Community Mental Health Supports (CMHS), Elderly, Blind, and Disabled (EBD), Brain Injury (BI), and the Complementary and Integrative Health (CIH) waivers. The NCI-SotW is conducted across the country and will help Colorado measure improvement in the quality and stability of the workforce of direct care workers assisting aging and disabled adults. The NCI State of the Workforce is required to be conducted in Colorado by statute through House Bill 18-1407. HCPF requires reliable data on turnover, wages, benefits, and retention strategies to evaluate and develop policies and programs to support the direct care workforce.
In September 2023, agencies that provide services to the targeted population can expect to receive a link via email to complete the survey online. Each agency will fill out one survey about their employed direct care workers. Data collection is set to close on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. The survey’s findings will be shared later in the year. For more information, please visit HCPF’s NCI Survey webpage.
As a thank you, agencies that participate in the survey will receive “Lunch on Us.” HCPF will be sending an electronic gift card for $100 to participating agencies to purchase lunch for administrative staff that assisted in completing the survey. Agencies that are found ineligible to complete the survey will not receive the incentive.
HCPF thanks agencies for assisting us with completing this mission-critical work that will help evaluate the stability of staff and services provided to the members we serve.
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Note: Effective immediately, PACE organizations are required to follow the guidance in the memos and use the template forms issued with the memos. These memos are available on HCPF's 2023 Memo Series Communication webpage and the template forms cited in the memos are available in the Forms and Resources section of HCPF's PACE webpage.
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Please find an ARPA-related meeting announcement listed below. Other ARPA-related meeting information is on the ARPA Stakeholder Engagement and Calendar webpage. | |
REMINDER: Direct Care Workforce Collaborative (DCWC) Compensation and Benefits Action Group
This Action Group works collaboratively with stakeholders to identify and move forward strategies to support the recruitment and retention of Colorado's direct care workforce.
The meeting will be held:
Friday, Nov. 17, 2023
10 to 11 a.m. MT
Join via Zoom
Join via Phone:
(Toll-free) 1-877-853-5257
Meeting ID: 993 1700 7314, Passcode: 396389
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REMINDER: Quarterly ARPA Updates Webinar - All Stakeholders
This is an update for all interested stakeholders on key projects specifically funded by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021 within the Office of Community Living and the Health Policy Office.
Audience: Members, Family, Advocates, Case Management Agencies (CMAs), Community Centered Boards (CCBs), Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Providers, Nursing Facilities, Providers, Single Entry Point (SEP) Agencies
Webinar documents are located on the OCL Webinar page AND the ARPA page.
The webinar will be held:
Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023
3 to 4:30 p.m. MT
Register Today!
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⚠️ CANCELED: Older Adults Stakeholder Meeting - Dec. 21, 2023
The Older Adults Stakeholder Meeting scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023 has been canceled. The next meeting will be held Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024, at 10 to 11 a.m. MT.
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Need to Make an Accommodation Request for One of Our General OCL or ARPA-Related Stakeholder Meetings?
Reasonable accommodations for all OCL and ARPA-related stakeholder meetings will be provided upon request for persons with disabilities. Auxiliary aids and services for individuals with disabilities and language services for individuals whose first language is not English may be provided upon request. Please notify John Barry at 303-866-3173 or John.R.Barry@state.co.us or the 504/ADA Coordinator at hcpf504ada@state.co.us at least one week prior to the meeting to make arrangements.
General OCL Meetings are on the OCL Stakeholder Engagement and Calendar webpage.
ARPA-Related Meetings are on the ARPA Stakeholder Engagement and Calendar webpage.
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Want to Sign up for OCL and HCPF Communications?
If you are not currently on the communications list receiving these emails,
you can sign up here.
See a list of all HCPF newsletters you can subscribe to.
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Looking for Prior OCL Communications?
Do you know about the OCL LTSS Newsletter Archive? On this page, you can:
- Search OCL newsletters back to January 2022
- Subscribe to the newsletter
- Keep track of OCL announcements, meeting reminders, and memos
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