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Tag: Colorado Department Of Health Care Policy And Financing

Colorado Lawmakers Grapple With Strict Rules for $200 Million Rural Health Program
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Lawmakers Grapple With Strict Rules for $200 Million Rural Health Program

By: Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics Members of the Colorado legislature’s new Commission on Medicaid raised concerns Wednesday about the federal Rural Health Transformation Program created under H.R. 1. The bipartisan, bicameral commission, created in the last legislative session to guide implementation of Medicaid changes under H.R. 1, met Wednesday to begin shaping its recommendations. Cristen Bates, deputy Medicaid director at the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, told members that Colorado is slated to receive $200 million in federal funding each year for the next five years to support rural health care initiatives. CMS requires states to apply for the Rural Health Transformation Program by November, with awards expected by year’s...
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Colorado’s Medicaid debate: Should lawmakers fix spending before seeking more federal dollars?
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado’s Medicaid debate: Should lawmakers fix spending before seeking more federal dollars?

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Drawing down more Federal money as the solution to Colorado’s Medicaid problem? Have you ever heard the saying, “the first step is admitting you have a problem”? Nash Herman’s piece on the Colorado Medicaid Commission (linked first below) made me think of that. The reason being that, per what he writes about their first meeting, the commission seems to largely be focused on wringing more money out of the Feds than dealing with the bloat that Colorado lawmakers have heaped upon the program since 2014 and Obamacare. Quoting from the piece with embedded links left intact: “The most recent Commission meeting raised questions about the government’s priorities in addressing Medicaid and the state budget. A re...
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Aurora Congregation Under Review Following Reports Of Homeless Exploitation Scheme
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Aurora Congregation Under Review Following Reports Of Homeless Exploitation Scheme

By: David Migoya | The Denver Gazette Two regional Seventh-day Adventist conferences that oversee the activities of its member churches across several states have launched inquiries into an Aurora-based congregation tied to a Medicaid operation that exploited the homeless. The Rocky Mountain Conference and the Central States Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist church — based in Denver and Kansas City, Kansas, respectively, and representing about 150 congregations in six states — said revelations that a newly created Aurora church was part of that enterprise were troubling. A Denver Gazette investigation into “The Program” showed how the Maranatha Indonesian-American Seventh-day Adventist Church was connected to a home-health agency that over three years collec...
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Colorado Probes Claims of Cash Incentives Linked to Medicaid Services for Homeless Residents
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Colorado Politics, Approved, Local

Colorado Probes Claims of Cash Incentives Linked to Medicaid Services for Homeless Residents

By: David Migoya | Colorado Politics Editor’s Note: This story is part of a series. Read about how home health in Colorado is a complex setupand about the group On Going HHC. They call it “the program.” For the past four years, dozens of homeless people in the Denver metro area have been recruited to live rent-free in suburban houses sprinkled across Aurora — not the stereotypical homeless shelter-type housing one might think, but rather neat homes in middle-class communities with mortgages. But living there comes with a hitch: a requirement that participants be on Medicaid and have at least one prescribed medication — all must first visit the same doctor to get a cursory exam and a prescription — administered by a home health company for which the doctor ...
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Budget Crunch Drives Colorado Medicaid Board To Approve New Caps On Disability Services
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Budget Crunch Drives Colorado Medicaid Board To Approve New Caps On Disability Services

By Jennifer Brown | The Colorado Sun Medicaid benefits that pay for people with disabilities to go on community outings and cover household cleaning, cooking and laundry are the latest services facing cuts as Colorado deals with a major budget shortage.  A governor-appointed board that sets rules for the state Medicaid program voted 6-1 Friday to preliminarily approve the cuts, despite rejecting other cuts requested by Medicaid officials this year.  The federal-state health insurance program will save $1.2 million in state money this year and $10 million next year by placing stricter caps on the number of hours that caregivers are paid to take people on outings through a benefit called “community connector.” Capping the hours allowed for “homemaker” services,...
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