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

The Joint Budget Committee approved JBC staff recommendations regarding the BA-10 budget supplemental submitted to address resource needs resulting from the projected December 2021 end of the Public Health Emergency (PHE). Currently, the Department is projecting an estimated 500,000 individuals will be locked-in to coverage as a result of the PHE and will require an eligibility review when the PHE is ended by the federal government. We will continue to update that projection throughout the year. As we have discussed, county workload for eligibility reviews, appeals and customer service will increase alongside changing federal expectations around the anticipated end of the PHE.

With the JBC’s approval, nearly $12 million in county administration funding will become available starting July 1, 2021 to add additional staff capacity for PHE eligibility reviews, appeals and customer service, or to continue and/or expand existing staffing supports, such as overtime, the Intercounty Workforce Initiative and other innovative solutions as approved by the Department. The Department encourages you to begin this planning process; however, to make final decisions, we will collectively have to take some proactive steps:

As the Department completes the internal work necessary to implement this new funding, additional guidance will be issued. Your primary contacts for the staffing plans, IGAs and related approvals are Josh Montoya and Marivel Klueckman. Please feel free to contact them with any questions.

While we are all grateful for the additional resources that were approved, also know that we continue to look broadly at other resource possibilities, considering that the Department’s original funding request was not approved. And, of course, our collaborative work through partnership continues with you all as we address federal expectations for the end of the PHE.

We continue to work collaboratively with Colorado Department of Human Services through the impacts of the PHE. Finally, please accept our sincere appreciation for all you and your staff do everyday to support Colorado’s communities.

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.

The Department listened to eligibility sites on how we can help improve the returned mail process. Prowers County is the Consolidated Return Mail Center (CRMC) vendor, located in Granada, CO. The CRMC is different from Prowers County's Department of Human Services.

The CRMC is following established processes and policies. Phase 1 has only included Medical Assistance cases. The pilot started December 2020, which included Prowers, Montrose, and El Paso counties. We have broken counties up into cohorts based on data from the volume of returned mail.

We added Pueblo, Otero and Crowley on Feb. 13. It takes approximately 10 days for the first piece of returned mail to show up at the CRMC. The CRMC staff is having no problems keeping up with the added volume; therefore, we are moving forward with cohort 3: Grand, Moffat, Montezuma, Logan, Phillips, Las Animas, Washington, Baca, Bent and Sedgwick counties.

Before the Department brings on a new cohort, we reach out and schedule a welcome/orientation meeting to introduce the county to the CRMC staff and processes, as well as share resources and answer any questions.

Phase 2 is scheduled for summer of 2021 and will include Colorado Department of Human Services programs.

In response to county feedback, State leadership has begun the process to improve the usability of Colorado’s Program Eligibility and Application Kit (PEAK) system through the multi-phase PEAK Modernization. 

Phase 1 will improve the look-and-feel of key screens PEAK Users interact with prior to signing into their PEAK account, including:

 

The CBMS Change Management and Communications Team and the PEAK Outreach Team will support you throughout this change with resources including CBMS Communications and updated PEAK User Guides. 

The team will be hosting a series of PEAK Modernization Lunch & Learns for this project, please see below for calendar and dial-in information:

Additionally, PEAK April 2021 Build Update Webinars are scheduled for the following dates and times. You can register at the links below:

The PEAK Modernization Phase 1 Changes FAQs document has additional information. 

 

Contact: If you have questions or concerns regarding this project, please contact the CBMS Liaison.

Connect for Health Colorado has opened an Uninsured Enrollment Period to help as many people as possible protect their health and safety during this time. Coloradans who are currently uninsured and don’t qualify for Health First Colorado can sign up for a health insurance plan through May 15, 2021.

 

Please help us spread the word! Community partners can easily find social media graphics/copy, newsletter copy and virtual brochures in our new toolkit.

For more information, read the related Policy Memo.

The Department’s Telemedicine Evaluation Report is now available on the Department’s website. This report summarizes the research and work completed by the Department from June 2020 through December 2020. It contains an evaluation of the policy changes in telemedicine since the beginning of the pandemic and what we know thus far about the impacts on access to care and utilization, health equity, quality and member outcomes, and payment and reimbursement.

For more information visit hcpf.colorado.gov/. The fee-for-service telemedicine utilization data is posted on a bi-monthly basis and is on the provider telemedicine webpage.

Please note the Department has changed the Colorado Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) and Non-MAGI programs' Reasonable Opportunity Period (ROP) time frame for income verification discrepancies.

For more information, read the memo: Reduction to the Reasonable Opportunity Period (ROP) From 90 Days to 30 Days for Income Verification.

Net operating Loss (NOL) has been added as a new allowable deduction for MAGI-based programs. CBMS has been updated to now allow entry of an NOL for MAGI programs. Members can now report an NOL to help lower an individual’s adjusted gross income.

For more information, read the memo: Net Operating Loss Deduction for MAGI-Based Programs.

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

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OM 21-031

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.

OM 21-030

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

OM 21-029

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

the processes for entering overpayments and overpayment interest into the Colorado

Benefits Management System (CBMS) for Health First Colorado/Medicaid fraud

investigations. This Memo will be available to all county staff working on investigations

to advise on the reporting requirements for member/client fraud, county incentives for

member/client fraud and how to code overpayments and interest. This Memo

supersedes guidance issued in HCPF OM 19-002 and HCPF OM 21-002 and is the most

current guidance available.

OM 21-028

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, anyone who processes applications for individuals that

have disabling conditions, and other internal and external stakeholders, that:

Website at Health First Colorado Disability Application .

The automated process will ensure that eligibility determinations and

redeterminations are more efficient for Medical Assistance categories that require a

disability determination by the State Disability Determination vendor.

Eligibility site responsibilities and agency letters have been updated.

OM 21-026

The purpose of this memo is to advise County Departments of Human/Social services

and Medical Assistance sites of income changes to the Health First Colorado Buy–In

Medicaid Program for Children with Disabilities (CBwD). Please share this memo with

anyone who works with this program.

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