The Office of Community Living (OCL) within the Department of health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF) has the following information to share below:

Announcements:

• REMINDER - MARCH 8 DEADLINE: LTSS Providers - Apply Now for Provisional Payments to Ease Your Cash Flow

• Children's Buy-in Program Stakeholder Engagement Opportunity 

• REMINDER: National Core Indicators (NCI) – State of the Workforce Survey—Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

• REMINDER: HCPF Direct Care Workforce Public Awareness Campaign – Deadline: Sunday, March 17, 2024

General OCL Meetings:

• Children’s Disability Advisory Committee (CDAC)

Memo:

• Minimum Data Set (MDS) Section S and Q Administration

American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)-Related Meetings:

• Direct Care Workforce Collaborative (DCWC)

• DCWC Compensation and Benefits Action Group

Announcements

REMINDER - MARCH 8 DEADLINE: LTSS Providers - Apply Now for Provisional Payments to Ease Your Cash Flow

Are you a long-term services and supports (LTSS) provider who is struggling to get paid for your services due to eligibility delays? Are you facing financial hardship or service disruption because of unpaid claims? If so, you may be eligible for a provisional payment from HCPF to help you stay afloat.

HCPF is offering short-term advances to LTSS providers who demonstrate the greatest need. These provisional payments are meant to mitigate the major financial stressors that some LTSS providers are experiencing, which are threatening their solvency or ability to provide service continuity. HCPF wants to ensure that our most vulnerable members continue receiving the support necessary within their communities.

The deadline to apply is March 8, 2024. You can read more about the eligibility criteria and the application process on the LTSS Provisional Provider Payments (3Ps) webpage.

We appreciate your dedication and commitment to providing quality LTSS to our members. We hope that this provisional payment program will help you overcome the challenges you are facing and ensure service continuity. Thank you for your partnership.

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Children's Buy-in Program Stakeholder Engagement Opportunity 

The Health First Colorado Buy-In Program for Children with Disabilities lets families of children with a disability who qualify to 'buy-into' Health First Colorado (Colorado's Medicaid Program) for that child. If your child and/or your family earns too much for Health First Colorado or Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+) your child may qualify. If your child does qualify, you may pay a monthly premium to be in the program. We base your monthly premium on your family's income.

Stakeholder Engagement Opportunity

Buy-In members, stakeholders, and partners are invited to attend this meeting to learn about upcoming eligibility policy changes to the Children's Buy-In Program.

The meeting will be held:

Thursday, April 4, 2024

10 to 11 a.m. MT

Join via Zoom

Join via Phone:

(Toll-free) 1-888-475-4499

Meeting ID: 831 1385 7975, Passcode: 183354

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REMINDER: National Core Indicators (NCI) – State of the Workforce Survey—Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

HCPF will soon conduct the National Core Indicators (NCI) —State of the Workforce Survey—Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (SotW-IDD) (formerly known as the Staff Stability Survey) for agencies providing services to individuals enrolled on the Supported Living Services (SLS) and the Developmental Disabilities (DD) waivers in early March 2024.

The SotW-IDD is conducted across the country and will help Colorado measure improvement in the quality and stability of the workforce of direct care workers assisting adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The SotW-IDD is required to be conducted every year by statute through House Bill 18-1407 to measure progress regarding Colorado’s direct care workforce. To evaluate and develop policies and programs to support the direct service provider workforce, HCPF requires reliable data on turnover, wages, benefits, and retention strategies.

Agencies included in the survey sample can expect to receive the link via email, to complete the survey online. We are asking agencies to complete survey by June 30, 2024. To encourage participation in the survey, HCPF will offer eligible and participating agencies a $100 gift card to DoorDash at the closure of the survey. Survey findings will be shared later in the year.

We thank agencies for assisting us with this mission-critical work that will help evaluate the stability of staff and services provided to the members we serve. For more information, please visit HCPF’s NCI webpage.

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REMINDER: HCPF Direct Care Workforce Public Awareness Campaign

Deadline: Sunday, March 17, 2024

HCPF is looking for feedback on the recent Direct Care Workforce Public Awareness Campaign. The purpose of this survey is to evaluate the impact of the campaign.

The survey will be open until Sunday, March 17, 2024. If you are interested in seeing some of the campaign videos and materials (available for download and use), you can find them at HCPF’s Direct Care Spotlight webpage.

Memo

This memo and other memos of interest are on HCPF's 2024 Memo Series Communication webpage.

• Informational Memo - Minimum Data Set (MDS) Section S and Q Administration (March 6, 2023): The purpose of this Informational Memo is to inform nursing facility staff who complete MDS and Local Contact Agencies (LCAs) of operational instructions related to the Minimum Data Set (MDS) section Q and MDS Section S added in October 2023.

General OCL Meetings

Please find a general OCL meeting announcement listed below. Information about these and other OCL meetings is on the OCL Stakeholder Engagement and Calendar webpage.

Children’s Disability Advisory Committee (CDAC)

The CDAC serves in an advisory capacity to HCPF and makes recommendations regarding issues related to benefits for children and youth with disabilities age 20 and younger, provider education interventions, and application of standards. All interested stakeholders are welcome.

Meeting information can be found on the CDAC web page.

The meeting will be held:

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

10 a.m. to 12 p.m. MT

Join with Google Meet

Join by Phone:

1-650-667-2698, PIN: ‪194 068 900#

ARPA-Related Meetings

Please find an ARPA-related meeting announcement listed below. Other ARPA-related meeting information is on the ARPA Stakeholder Engagement and Calendar webpage.

Direct Care Workforce Collaborative (DCWC)

The DCWC works collaboratively with stakeholders to identify and move forward strategies to support the recruitment and retention of Colorado's direct care workforce. This group meets quarterly (March, June, September, and December) on the second Wednesday of the month. For more information, please see the DCWC webpage, or email HCPF_DCWorkforce@state.co.us.

The meeting will be held:

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

10 to 11:30 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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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. This group intends to meet every other month on the third Friday from 10 to 11 a.m. MT. For more information, please check out the DCWC webpage, or email HCPF_DCWorkforce@state.co.us.

The meeting will be held:

Friday, March 15, 2024

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

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.

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