Medicaid Case Management Redesign
The Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF), the State Medicaid agency, is moving forward on the case management system redesign and will start using a new Assessment and Support Planning Tool in October 2022. The next meeting on case management redesign is on August 23rd from 1-2:30 pm. You can find the meeting information and previous meeting recordings at: https://hcpf.colorado.gov/case-management-redesign.
Community First Choice Waiver Updates
2. The Community First Choice (CFC) Implementation stakeholder group met on August 3rd to inform stakeholders of how the CMS HCBS Settings regulations affect where a consumer can receive CFC services. Institutional-type settings like group homes and nursing homes are not locations that CFC can be provided in. Over the next few years, the rules governing CFC will be developed including the settings where services can be provided. The next meeting will be on September 7th and provider qualifications will be the topic of discussion.
CNA Exam Improvements
On August 5th, PASCO, Family Voices Colorado and TEAM Public Choices Advocates met with the Department of Regulatory Affairs (DORA) to discuss the CNA testing vendor, Credentia. We are aiming to get solutions to many issues PASCO employees are experiencing with the testing process, including a lack of testing availability, test proctors not arriving to conduct the testing, and the lack of testing in languages that allow CNA candidates to show their abilities and competence to be a CNA. We spent an hour with DORA representatives, who oversee the Board of Nursing and licensing testing. We discovered that many solutions will involve national advocacy efforts with a couple of national organizations. To change how testing can be provided in different languages requires national advocacy organizations to recognize the need for CNAs and that many potential CNAs have a primary language besides English. DORA let us know that like every health care provider, they are struggling to find reliable, licensed RNs to proctor the testing. We (PASCO, Family Voices, TEAM) made a commitment to DORA to reach out to a variety of organizations to recruit RNs to proctor tests, even if only one day a month. We need to increase the testing opportunities for our employees and candidates in general.
Are you an RN interested in becoming a CNA Exam Evaluator?
Medicaid Redetermination
Health Care Policy and Financing has already started sending out redetermination packages in anticipation of the end of the COVID 19 Public Health Emergency ending. They are anticipating up to 400,000 Medicaid recipients will be found ineligible when the redeterminations are processed. AT THIS TIME, no one can be dropped from Medicaid unless they move out of state or die. If you receive a redetermination packet, please fill the paperwork out, gather the requested information and mail it in by the deadline. If you are found ineligible (but not dropped from Medicaid), you will be told you are ineligible and what happens after the public health emergency ends.
Read more about this process and how to prepare below.
