County Partners,

We had good news with the release of the most recent revenue forecast by the Office of State Planning and Budget. Overall, Colorado’s economy is starting to improve, the vaccine rollout is well underway, and the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) will bring much needed financial relief to Colorado families, businesses, and state and local government, while further boosting the vaccine rollout. Additionally, the Colorado General Assembly is considering a stimulus package to further help our economy rebound.

The new forecast informed the Joint Budget Committee (JBC) as they work to finalize the state and the Department’s budgets through the “Long Bill,” which will be debated this month. Given the improving outlook, several budget reductions that were originally needed to balance the Department's budget were not moved forward by the JBC; further, Department priorities and important strategic investments were approved.

While we are pleased with the improving economic outlook, there are troubling signs in the forecast, including the fact that not all Coloradans are rebounding equally. Lower wage workers – our members - still have higher unemployment rates than medium and higher wage workers. Throughout this month, Governor Polis is part of a bipartisan statewide outreach tour, focused on helping the economy recover to Build Back Stronger, which could fuel investments that address this concerning reality.

As we build back, and as we continue to fight COVID-19 through vaccine rollout, we can’t leave anyone behind. That is why we are working with our Regional Accountable Entities, Single Entry Points and Community Centered Boards to reach out to our homebound members to help them schedule vaccine appointments or bring the vaccine to them as needed. We will be partnering with our Regional Accountable Entities to do additional outreach to vaccine hesitant communities as well.

But we can’t do this work alone – we need your help. As leaders, your credible, community voice matters and your example matters. I’m so proud to see so many of you posting and sharing about why getting the vaccine is important. Please also continue your local conversations to drive continual improvements in equitable vaccine uptake and feel free to direct community members to CDPHE vaccine resources for assistance.

Thank you again for your partnership in helping battle the virus, open our economy, address health disparities, and help all Coloradans rise and thrive.

Kim

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra has formally extended the Public Health Emergency (PHE). The PHE can be extended for up to 90 days at a time. This extension started April 21, 2021 and would end, unless extended again, on July 20, 2021. The Biden administration has indicated they will keep extending the PHE throughout 2021. We will continue to keep you updated directly and via our Public Health Emergency Planning page.

The PHE designation is important as it allows the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing (HCPF) to extend continuous coverage, maintenance of effort (MOE), and other helpful policies and waivers approved by the federal government. It also provides additional enhanced federal funding, which is critical during this economic downturn.

Effective July 1, 2021, all Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+) eligible members will be automatically enrolled into a CHP+ Managed Care Organization (MCO). As a result, health care services for CHP+ members will no longer be delivered through the CHP+ State Managed Care Network (SMCN), currently administered by Colorado Access.

All CHP+ members enrolled to the SMCN will be transitioned into a CHP+ MCO on July 1, 2021, which includes prenatal individuals, children, and presumptively eligible individuals. There are five CHP+ MCOs in Colorado, and members will be enrolled into an MCO based in part on the county in which they live. Members will receive letters before July with further information about their enrollment, as well as additional information from the CHP+ MCO they are enrolled with for information about accessing healthcare benefits. Members can contact their new MCO with any questions they may have about utilizing their healthcare benefits.

There will be no changes to CHP+ benefits, CHP+ eligibility, or CHP+ cost sharing amounts as a result of this transition.

If members have any questions about the SMCN ending, they can call CHP+ SMCN Customer Service at 1-303-751-9051 or 1-800-414-6198 (toll free), Monday through Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. For TDD/TTY, call 1-888-803-4494. For any questions about CHP+ Enrollment, members can call Health First Colorado Enrollment at 1-303-839-2120 or 1-888-367-6557 (State Relay: 711).

For more information about the CHP+ program, please visit the CHP+ Webpage.

The ME Review Team would like to thank the staff at Sedgwick and Kit Carson county for all of their cooperation and partnership. Your involvement has been instrumental in the Departments efforts to launch this new initiative.

The ME Review Program will consist of qualitative and quantitative reviews of different “modules” encompassing various Medical Assistance business processes. The “modules” are designed to help improve the Department’s understanding of eligibility site operations and, if needed, to provide targeted technical assistance for those eligibility sites in need of additional support.

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act and other non-discrimination laws, a member with low English proficiency should be provided with a qualified certified interpreter to ensure impartial, accurate, and confidential communications. These services are available through Language Line Services.

Additionally, individuals with a visual or hearing disability should be provided with auxiliary services through a certified professional. In order to comply with this requirement, it is expected that Eligibility Sites have a language line provider on retainer.

Questions? Reach out to Steve King.

On March 9, 2021, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it would stop defending lawsuits related to the 2019 public charge rule, and the U.S. Supreme Court dropped the case. This ultimately means that the 2019 public charge rule will no longer apply. The application of the public charge determination reverts back to the 1999 guidance. The 1999 guidance is much narrower in scope in terms of programs considered under the public charge rule.

The only programs considered are ongoing cash assistance programs and long-term institutionalization at the government’s expense.

The rule continues to only apply to a subset of the immigrant population — those applying for legal permanent residence or a visa.

For more information about the public charge rule and who it applies to, download the Community Fact Sheet, which is available in English, Amharic, Arabic, Burmese, Chinese (simplified), Dari, Karen, Nepali, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Swahili and Vietnamese.

For information about how to apply, call 833.511.0311 or visit How to Apply web page.

HCPF's newly redesigned public website launched on March 31 with a new content management system and a new, more modern look. This project involved migrating more than 600 web pages and nearly 7,000 documents, making every page on the site more accessible to visitors with disabilities and fully usable on mobile devices. And while the site will now live at a new hcpf.colorado.gov address, all existing links to the site will forward to their new address transparently.

The HCPF website is our primary and most visible form of external communications to our many audiences, with an average of 100,000 people visiting the site every month. We believe the improved functionality and ease of use will not only benefit our member, provider, and stakeholder audiences, but also HCPF staff who need to get information posted quickly and easily.

We'd welcome hearing your comments about the site. Please let us know what you think via our Website Feedback form.

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

PM 21-003

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

eligibility rules for the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021 recovery rebate (also

known as COVID-19 Economic Stimulus). 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 21-036

The purpose of this Operational Memo is to communicate operational expectations from

the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF or Department) for

accessing county administration funding available to manage Medical Assistance (MA)

workload related to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE). The Memo also

includes guidelines for submitting staffing plans and intergovernmental agreements

required to access funding.

OM 21-033

The purpose of this Operational Memo is to provide guidance to county departments of

human/social services (county) on updates to the Continuous Coverage (Continuous

Eligibility) Performance Incentive as part of the FY 2020-21 County Incentives Program.

The Performance Incentive was updated due to new guidance received from the federal

government. The Incentive continues to be weighted at 20 percent of total County

Incentives funding.

IM 21-031

This Informational Memo is intended to inform county human/social services directors

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. The

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

COVID-19 PHE.

IM 21-030

The purpose of this memo is to inform counties and eligibility sites about enrollment

changes within the CHP+ program, effective July 1, 2021.