Category Archives: General Information

Connect April Email: Assessing Progress

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The currently limited adults without dependent children expansion in Medicaid has been progressing. The maximum number of enrollments has been consistently fulfilled while the waiting pool has been growing an average of 1,000 per month since September 2012.

It is positive to see that people are continuing to apply for benefits. Despite being put into the waiting pool, a connection to CICP in the meantime will assist them with needed care. Additionally, the state will be able to automatically enroll them into benefits on January 1, 2014.

We’re pleased that the Department continues to share data on enrollment and we continue to request data on care utilization. Check out our data dashboard showing progress thus far (which excludes this month’s expected enrollment increase).

Also, check out some helpful briefs from the Colorado Health Institute:

  • Brief on demographics of the likely enrollees of the Medicaid expansion, and
  • Brief on how current Medicaid enrollees (and uninsured) access health care.
Other informative resources are available on our Connect page.
Want to join our e-mail list for monthly updates? Email Aubrey Hill!

Connect March Email: Stay Engaged as 2014 Approaches

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The Department of Health Care Policy and Financing has a new communications channel called “ACA Implementation News.” It’s designed to keep partners up-to-date on health reform implementation work. Please visit here for more information and to add your name to the distribution list.
There are other communications avenues that the Department uses, such as the At a Glance for partners and the Provider Bulletin for providers. Sign up for these communications so you can stay in the loop!
As always, the Connect Campaign is working to ensure that systems are working, providers are engaged, and community efforts are coordinated. Please join us at our next monthly meeting on March 25th from 1pm to 2:30pm. If you would like more details, please e-mail Aubrey.
For other meetings or information on other groups working on different aspects of improving Medicaid, please refer to this meeting grid.

Connect February Email: Major AwDC Announcement

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BIG NEWS: The Department of Health Care Policy and Financing will incrementally expand the enrollment cap for adults without dependent children (AwDC) on Medicaid.
  • The income cap of 10% FPL will remain, but the Department ultimately aims to increase enrollment by 9,250 more slots as funding allows.
  • Those who are wait-listed for AwDC do NOT have to reapply as they will be pulling from the wait list to fill the new enrollment slots.
As always, the Connect Campaign is working to ensure that systems are working, providers are engaged, and community resources are concerted. Please join us at our next monthly meeting on February 25th from 1pm to 2:30pm. If you would like more details, please e-mail Aubrey.

Letter from HCPF on Increasing AwDC Enrollment

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Dear stakeholders,

I am very pleased to announce that the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing will be increasing the enrollment cap for the AwDC program by an estimated 9,250 slots as funding allows.

Since last spring, we have been working together with our county partners and other stakeholders to provide coverage to the most vulnerable Coloradans through the AwDC program. The Department has been monitoring utilization and expenditure data for AwDC and is confident there is sufficient hospital provider fee revenue to raise the enrollment cap.

The Department plans to enroll 3,000 individuals from the AwDC program waitlist beginning in April and enroll 1,250 individuals each subsequent month though September 2013 as long as funding allows. The phased monthly increase in enrollment will allow the Department to continue to evaluate program expenses to ensure costs do not exceed provider fee funds.

The AwDC program is funded through the hospital provider fee and matching federal funds; it uses no state general funds. Since the program is relatively new, we will continue to monitor costs and utilization patterns carefully to watch for changes. A phased approach gives us the opportunity to slow enrollment if it appears that our program growth will lead to costs that exceed available hospital provider fee resources. It also allows us to add more people over time than a single large increase would. However, after our discussions with you all last week, we agreed that it was important to enroll as many people as possible during the first month, and as you can see, the largest increase happens in April.

Please note: the application and enrollment processes will stay the same. The income limit is still 10% FPL, and we are still using the same randomized selection process to choose names from the waitlist each month. Nothing is changing except the number of available slots. Applicants who are already on the waitlist do not need to reapply.

As we discussed in our meeting, the Department is preparing formal notifications to CMS and to the public, in accordance with the terms of our waiver.

I wanted to be the first to share this exciting news with you. Please watch for updates to our website and for a press release to be posted next week. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Thank you for your dedication to and support of this program.

Sonja Madera, MS

Medicaid Program Development Specialist

Department of Health Care Policy and Financing

1570 Grant Street

Denver, CO 80203-1818

Phone:  303-866-6977

Fax:         303-866-2803

sonja.madera@state.co.us 

colorado.gov/hcpf