Health Care Policy 

Our commitment to make Colorado the healthiest state in the nation includes efforts to improve Health Care by influencing health policy.

Our Health Care policy work is directed at:

• Improving the quality of and access to care
• Increasing reimbursement for the provision of integrated care
• Eliminating regulations that inhibit the coordination of care

Initiatives
Working with our partners, we supported several key pieces of legislation in 2007 to improve Health Care for all Coloradans.

Colorado Regional Integrated Care Collaborative
The Colorado Regional Integrated Care Collaborative is a partnership between the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF), the national Center for Health Care Strategies, local health plans and providers, consumer organizations and other stakeholders.

The goal of the collaborative is to coordinate the currently fragmented physical health, mental health and substance abuse services provided to Medicaid’s highest-need, highest-cost clients. The program is administered by Colorado Access, a nonprofit health plan that provides access to behavioral and physical health services for medically underserved Coloradans.

We have granted HCPF $877,202 to help the collaborative develop, implement and evaluate innovative models for managing the care of high-cost adult Medicaid beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions.

Colorado Medicaid Task Force
This grant allowed key stakeholders to come together for discussions on ways in which the Medicaid program could be improved and ensure that the limited resources are being used in an efficient manner to allow coverage of more needy Coloradans, especially children. The one day retreat was the first time in the history of the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing that four key stakeholders (i.e., physicians, hospitals, federally-qualified health centers, and health plans) were brought together to work on a shared vision to move towards a high performance system.

Joan Henneberry, executive director of the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, has continued to use these key provider groups to address issues and make recommendations to improve Medicaid.

We granted the coalition $122,300 to support its efforts to improve the quality of care for Medicaid recipients and increase the efficiency of the program which would create cost savings and enhance provider participation.

Learn more about our policy work.