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

Announcements:

• Application Announcement: ARPA 7.02 Member Emergency Preparedness Surviving In Place - Battery Backup Power Supply Systems

• Wellness Education Benefit (WEB) Stakeholder Input Requested: Deadline Thursday, June 22, 2023

• CDHS Hosting Stakeholder Listening Sessions for SB 23-040: Wednesday, June 28 and Thursday, June 29, 2023

Memos:

• Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Base Wage Increase Attestation June 2023

• Joint Agency Policy Memo on Law Enforcement in Mobile Crisis Response

Friday Feature:

• NEW: The Complementary and Integrative Health (CIH) Services Provider List Webpage

OCL Stakeholder Meeting Recordings:

• Have You Missed a Meeting of Interest to You?

Announcements

Application Announcement:

ARPA 7.02 Member Emergency Preparedness 

Surviving In Place - Battery Backup Power Supply Systems

HCPF has recognized the importance of being prepared for a power outage emergency for individuals utilizing life-sustaining medical devices. With funding made available through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and in collaboration with The Center for Inclusive Design and Engineering (CIDE), we will be distributing Battery Backup Power Supply Systems to eligible Health First Colorado members, assisting them in having the necessary equipment to be better prepared and in maintaining their health, safety and independence.

If you are interested in getting a Backup Power Supply System, please complete the application. Once received, the application will be reviewed, information verified, and a determination made if the applicant qualifies. There is a limited supply and a final decision will be made on eligibility and the availability of devices. All applicants will be notified of their results within two months of receipt of the application. All questions should be directed to Julia Beems at 303-315-1284 or julia.beems@ucdenver.edu

For more information about the project visit the Surviving in Place webpage.

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Wellness Education Benefit (WEB) Stakeholder Input Requested: Deadline Thursday, June 22, 2023

The Community First Choice (CFC) team is seeking stakeholder input about information being considered for publication through the upcoming Wellness Education Benefit (WEB).

About the Wellness Education Benefit (WEB)

The WEB will be a monthly waiver service that mails individualized educational materials to home and community-based services (HCBS) waiver members. The WEB is designed to assist with promoting and managing health, achieving service plan goals, preventing hospitalization or health care facility placement, and promoting community living for waiver members. The launch of WEB services will occur for Children’s HCBS (CHCBS) waiver members in March 2024, and for all HCBS waiver members in March 2025.

About the Survey

The WEB team has drafted eight articles for CHCBS waiver members. Survey responses will be anonymous. We ask all interested stakeholders to review them and give us feedback in these areas:

• Information readability and ease of understanding

• Relevance of topic and content

• Benefit and usefulness of the information

• Thoughts and special considerations

Please Take the Survey by Thursday, June 22, 2023

Take the WEB Article Survey

Survey responses will be anonymous.

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CDHS Hosting Stakeholder Listening Sessions for SB 23-040: Wednesday, June 28 and Thursday, June 29, 2023

The CDHS Adult Protective Services program welcomes your participation in stakeholder listening sessions on June 28 and 29, 2023, to review draft rule changes for the Colorado Adult Protective Service (CAPS) Check process. This draft rulemaking process is underway to implement the recently passed Senate Bill 23-040 ("Staffing Agency CAPS Checks").

About Senate Bill (SB) 23-040

SB 23-040 created role clarity for CAPS Checks when employers obtain staffing resources through a third-party agency meeting the definition of "staffing agency" as defined in the bill. The bill also authorizes previously prohibited information sharing between agencies supplying staff to employers and the employers receiving staff to ensure efficiency and reduction of duplicated efforts. These changes are set to go into effect in January 2024. Rulemaking will proceed over the coming months. CDHS would appreciate your feedback!

Stakeholder Listening Sessions

CDHS will hold two virtual listening sessions for interested stakeholders. If you are unable to attend these sessions, they will be recorded and posted to the APS website and the CAPS Check Unit (CCU) website within one week of the meetings. The websites will be maintained with current information throughout the rulemaking process, including additional opportunities for public comment. Listening sessions will include a very brief overview of the draft rule changes, with the remainder of the time open for public questions and comments.

Listening Session #1

Wednesday, June 28, 9 to 10 a.m. MT

Join via Google Meet

Join via Phone:

225-629-1220, PIN: 520 367 795#

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Listening Session #2

Thursday, June 29, 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. MT

Join via Google Meet

Join via Phone:

224-420-9573, PIN: ‪513 161 967#

For Questions and Feedback

For additional questions related to this rulemaking, you can also provide feedback in the following ways:

• Feedback Form: You are welcome to complete the CDHS feedback form to send us any thoughts, questions or concerns about the rule draft. We will collect and monitor this form periodically throughout the rulemaking process. 

• Contact CDHS directly:
• Stefanie Woodard, APS Program Director: stefanie.woodard@state.co.us
• Kara Harvey, Aging and Adult Services Division Director: kara.harvey@state.co.us

Memos

These memos and other memos of interest are on HCPF's 2023 Memo Series Communication webpage.

• Operational Memo - Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Base Wage Increase Attestation June 2023 (June 14, 2023): The purpose of this Operational Memo is to inform service providers of the base wage rate increase for some Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) waiver services. HCPF instituted a base wage for Direct Care Workers (DCWs) in January 2022. The base wage will increase July 1, 2023. DCWs providing certain HCBS waiver services must have a base wage of at least $15.75 per hour or the percentage increase to their per diem wages.

• Policy Memo - Joint Agency Policy Memo on Law Enforcement in Mobile Crisis Response (June 15, 2023): HCPF has released a joint agency memo with the Behavioral Health Administration (BHA) on Mobile Crisis Response (MCR) and the Role of Law Enforcement. To learn more about MCR, visit the MCR project page. Please contact Emily Holcomb with questions.

Friday Feature

NEW: The Complementary and Integrative Health (CIH) Services Provider List Webpage

This week OCL is featuring the:

Complementary and Integrative Health (CIH) Services Provider List webpage.

About Complementary and Integrative Health Services (CIHS)

Acupuncture, Chiropractic, and Massage Therapy are available to members living with a spinal cord injury, brain injury, spinal bifida, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, or multiple sclerosis on the Complementary and Integrative Health Waiver, formerly the Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Waiver.

This benefit expanded statewide in July 2022. Providers across the state are enrolling to offer these services to members who experience falls, pain, or trouble walking directly related to a spinal cord or brain injury.

For more information about the CIH Services and transitioning to the CIH Waiver, please visit the CIH Webpage.

About the CIH Services Provider List

The CIH Service Provider List contains a list of providers approved by HCPF. Members and case managers can use this list to obtain contact information for providers in their area.

About Becoming a CIH Service Provider

For information about becoming a CIH Service provider, see CIH Waiver Expansion FAQ.

About the CIH Services Provider List Webpage

The CIH Services Provider List webpage includes the following information:

• Approved acupuncture, chiropractic, and massage therapy CIH providers

• Contact information for each provider on the list

• A searchable index of provider information, including counties served and specialties provided.

We hope you'll bookmark the CIH Services Provider List webpage and share this resource with your organizations and networks.

We welcome your ideas about helpful pages we might include in the Friday Feature. Please send any ideas to John Barry.

OCL Stakeholder Meeting Recordings

Have You Missed a Meeting of Interest to You?

These recordings are posted on the OCL Stakeholder Engagement YouTube channel as well on HCPF program-related webpages. There may be other recordings of interest to you on the channel, so please go to the channel and explore. The most recent meeting recordings are at the bottom of the page.

Below are links to recently uploaded OCL meeting recordings:

• DD Determination Waiting List, Notice of Action, Emergency Enrollment Training - May 31, 2023

• Service Plan Care Plan and Associated Interfaces Training - June 13, 2023

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.usor 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.

Signing 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.

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 2021

• Subscribe to the newsletter

• Keep track of OCL announcements, meeting reminders, and memos