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

Announcement:

• New Survey - Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) Member Materials

• REMINDER: 2023 National Core Indicator (NCI) - State of the Workforce Survey - Aging and Disabilities

General OCL Meetings:

• Health Equity Public Meeting: Latino Community Focus

• Participant-Directed Programs Policy Collaborative (PDPPC) Monthly Meeting

American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)-Related Meetings:

• Virtual Listening Session: Justice-Impacted Communities

• In-Person Listening Session: Justice-Impacted Communities (Longmont)

Announcement

New Survey - HCBS Member Materials

HCPF is in the process of redesigning existing materials and creating new materials aimed at increasing members' and their support systems' knowledge about HCBS to support their awareness, enrollment, and utilization of these waiver programs. This survey aims to get the HCBS community's input on the prioritization of these materials as well as feedback on the first round of draft materials for members.

• It should take about 15 minutes.
• Please note that all of these materials will be translated into Spanish if they do not include both in the same document.
• Please respond by October 18th.

Thank you for sharing your time and thoughts!

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REMINDER: 2023 National Core Indicator (NCI) - State of the Workforce Survey - Aging and Disabilities

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 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.

General OCL Meetings

Please find a general OCL meeting announcement listed below. Other OCL meeting information is on the OCL Stakeholder Engagement and Calendar webpage.

Health Equity Public Meeting: Latino Community Focus

HCPF is committed to ongoing and sustained health equity for all our members.

The purpose of the health equity public meeting is to provide space for providers, members, and community stakeholders to learn about HCPF’s Health Equity Plan, and to provide input and feedback. Our goal is to establish the current state of health equity, and strategically look at innovative ways to improve health outcomes and decrease health disparities for our members in Colorado.

To achieve better health outcomes, stakeholder engagement is critical. Feedback from sessions will inform HCPF’s health equity strategy and implementation.

Health equity happens when everyone has equal opportunity to be as healthy as they can be. No one's race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, geography, or preferred language should negatively affect their health care. Health equity work includes removing obstacles to health care access and positive health outcomes.

The meeting will be held:

Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023

3 to 4 p.m. MT

Register Here

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Participant-Directed Programs Policy Collaborative (PDPPC) Monthly Meeting

The PDPPC is a collaboration between stakeholders and HCPF, focusing on issues related to Participant-Directed Programs, which includes Consumer-Directed Attendant Support Services (CDASS) and In-Home Support Services (IHSS). All interested stakeholders are welcome.

The PDPPC generally meets on the 4th Wednesday of each month in 2023, from 1 to 4 p.m. MT. All interested stakeholders are welcome to attend. For more information, see the PDPPC webpage.

The meeting will be held:

Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023

1 to 4 p.m. MT

Join via Zoom

Join by Phone:

(Toll-free)1-877-853-5257

Meeting ID: 969 4053 6000, Passcode: 115140

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.

Virtual Listening Session: Justice-Impacted Communities

HCPF is hosting a series of listening sessions for Health First Colorado (Colorado’s Medicaid program) members and family members who are impacted by the criminal justice system. HCPF staff want to hear feedback, suggestions, and member experiences to help identify gaps in services and needs of this community. HCPF staff will ask questions about your experience enrolling in Health First Colorado and using your benefits.

Virtual and in-person sessions are available to give as many people as possible the opportunity to join. There also will be opportunities for people to give anonymous feedback.

The meeting will be held:

Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023

9 to 10 a.m. MT

Register Here

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In-Person Listening Session: Justice-Impacted Communities

(Longmont)

HCPF is hosting a series of listening sessions for Health First Colorado (Colorado’s Medicaid program) members and family members who are impacted by the criminal justice system. HCPF staff want to hear feedback, suggestions, and member experiences to help identify gaps in services and needs of this community. HCPF staff will ask questions about your experience enrolling in Health First Colorado and using your benefits.

Virtual and in-person sessions are available to give as many people as possible the opportunity to join. There also will be opportunities for people to give anonymous feedback.

The meeting will be held:

Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023

3 to 4 p.m. MT

Meeting Location:

The Reentry Initiative

402 Kimbark St.

Longmont CO 80501

Register Here

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