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

Announcements:

• The Money Follows the Person (MFP) Capacity Building Grant Now Accepting Applications – Deadline Friday, Feb. 9, 2024

• NOTICE: Resources to Support Eligibility Renewals Related to the Public Health Emergency (PHE) Unwind

• REMINDER: Stakeholder Engagement - Health First Colorado Community Health Worker Reimbursement

American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)-Related Meetings:

• Community First Choice (CFC) Council Meeting

• Direct Care Workforce Collaborative (DCWC) Training & Career Advancement Action Group

• NEW: ARPA 1.05 Provider Informational Webinar Series

Announcements

The Money Follows the Person (MFP) Capacity Building Grant Now Accepting Applications – Deadline Friday, Feb. 9, 2024

HCPF is accepting applications for the MFP Capacity Building Grant through Friday, Feb. 9, 2024. Applicants will have the opportunity to submit ideas for the competitive grant. HCPF will issue award notifications on or before Friday, March 8, 2024. Qualified applicants will submit a proposal to expand their ability and/or capacity to improve their local infrastructure and resources to ensure members are successfully transitioning back into the community.

The grant allows organizations to develop diverse and creative ways to expand their ability to support transition services in their region. Qualified applicants will be an Options Counseling Agency, Transition Coordination Agency, Center for Independent Living, or another provider of Colorado’s Transition Services OR an organization expanding to provide Transition Services.

See the "MFP Capacity Building Grant" section of the Money Follows the Person webpage to view and download the following important grant-related documents:

• Request for Applications (RFA) – MFP Capacity Building Grant

• MFP Capacity Building Grant Attestation Form

• Budget Table

Apply for the grant

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NOTICE: Resources to Support Eligibility Renewals Related to the Public Health Emergency (PHE) Unwind

With the end of the public health emergency (PHE), members are once again required to have their Medicaid eligibility renewal on an annual basis. This is a new process for many members and requires the timely completion of a renewal packet. The following resources are available to support members through the renewal process:

• A guide specifically for helping LTSS members through the renewal process.

• The Renewal Education toolkit can be used by members or partners to familiarize themselves with the basics of the renewal process.

• Members can learn more about renewals and find FAQs on the Health First Colorado website. Content is available in English and Spanish.

• The KeepCOCovered Toolkit includes information about other health insurance options. 

• FAQs about the end of the Public Health Emergency, including specifics for the LTSS population.

Additionally, HCPF is leveraging flexibility from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to provide a 60-calendar-day extension to complete the renewal process for our vulnerable populations, including long-term care (LTC), members on waivered services, and buy-in recipients who have not returned their renewal packet on time during COVID unwind.

This extension also allows HCPF to do additional outreach to these members when they are up for renewal, while providing extra time for the members to return the information and the counties to process it.

The extension is in effect Sept. 5, 2023, through the remainder of the unwind period, June 2024. It does not affect members who have already submitted their renewal packet to the county or those who have completed the renewal process.

If a member has already turned in their renewal packet and still needs to submit additional information, the county may grant additional time through a Good Faith Extension for a member to turn in this information.

For more information about the extension and frequently asked questions please see the HCPF updates.

REMINDER: Stakeholder Engagement - Health First Colorado Community Health Worker Reimbursement

Background

The Colorado Legislature passed Senate Bill 23-002 in May 2023 to add community health worker (CHW) services as a Health First Colorado (Colorado’s Medicaid program) benefit starting July 1, 2025. Federal authorization will be sought from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) by July 1, 2024, to add CHW services as a covered benefit.

Through the Health Policy Office, Health First Colorado is collaborating with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) to implement the legislation.

Stakeholder Engagement Opportunities

Health First Colorado will host a series of stakeholder meetings to get input on how to meet federal requirements to add CHW services as a Health First Colorado benefit. Register on Zoom for any or all of these Health First Colorado webinars:

Health First Colorado Stakeholder Webinar #1:

Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, at 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. MT

Health First Colorado Stakeholder Webinar #2:

Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2024, at 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. MT

Health First Colorado Stakeholder Webinar #3:

Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024, at 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. MT

Health First Colorado Stakeholder Webinar #4:

Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024, at 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. MT

For More Information



Interested stakeholders can visit the Community Health Workers webpage for additional resources, timelines, and updates. 

If you have any questions, please contact Morgan Anderson with the Health Policy Office at morgan.anderson@state.co.us.

American Rescue Plan Act (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.

Community First Choice (CFC) Council Meeting

The Community First Choice (CFC) Council is in place to collaborate with and advise the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF) on the design and implementation of a CFC option in Colorado. Primarily made up of people with disabilities, those 65 years or older, and their representatives, the council’s experience and expertise will help ensure that CFC is implemented in a way that best meets the needs of Coloradoans with disabilities.

Agendas, presentations, and other related materials for council meetings can be found on the CFC Stakeholder Opportunities webpage.

For more information, contact the CFC team at HCPF_CFC@state.co.us.

The meeting will be held:

Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024

10 to 11:30 a.m. MT

Join via Google Meet

Join via Phone:

260-230-1249, PIN: 719 313 221#

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Direct Care Workforce Collaborative (DCWC) Training & Career Advancement 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 first Friday of the month from 9 to 10 a.m. MT. For more information, please see the Direct Care Workforce Collaborative webpage, or email HCPF_DCWorkforce@state.co.us.

The meeting will be held:

Friday, Jan. 5, 2024

9 to 10 a.m. MT

Join via Zoom

Join via Phone:

(Toll-free) 877-853-5257

Meeting ID: 969 4053 6000, Passcode: 115140

NEW: ARPA 1.05 Provider Informational Webinar Series

These webinars will provide information to prospective applicants about the ARPA 1.05 Provider Grant. The intention of this grant is to provide more training opportunities and incentives for workers to gain higher-level skills that would promote greater retention within the HCBS workforce. This webinar will review the grant eligibility and application process. All interested stakeholders are welcome.

More information will be posted on the ARPA 1.05 webpage. If you have any questions, email the Direct Care Workforce team.

The webinars will be held:

Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024, 9 to 10 a.m. MT

Thursday, March 7, 2024, 1 to 2 p.m. MT

Tuesday, May 7, 2024, 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. MT

Access information is the same for all three webinars:

Join via Zoom

Join via Phone:

(Toll-free) 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