FEBRUARY 2024

At Colorado Access, we are committed to caring for you and your success as you serve our members. Our monthly Provider Update highlights essential information and resources to support you as a contracted provider with us.

Get Higher Reimbursements for Providing Behavioral Health Services in Languages Other Than English

We are excited to introduce a new program that allows you to earn enhanced reimbursements for providing behavioral health services in languages other than English. Eligible outpatient providers can now bill a 10% increased rate on direct outpatient behavioral health services offered in a member's identified language. Federally Qualified Health Centers, Community Mental Health Centers, and Inpatient Hospitals do not qualify for this incentive. 

This incentive is the first of its kind, and it recognizes the additional effort, training, and expertise needed to deliver culturally and linguistically appropriate care.

This program is exclusive to us, Colorado Access, and does not apply to any other Regional Accountable Entity (RAE) services that use an interpreter.

Talk to your assigned provider network manager or find out who to contact here to learn more.

New Language Proficiency Field Available

A new language proficiency field is now available in the Provider Web Portal as of December 14, 2023. This field is available during enrollment, provider maintenance, and revalidation. You can select a language proficiency other than the default value.

This field will be available to members on the Health First Colorado (Colorado’s Medicaid program) Find a Doctor webpage in the summer of 2024.

Pay-for-performance Stakeholder Engagement Sessions

We have two upcoming exciting opportunities for you to learn about and provide feedback on several proposed pay-for-performance distribution models (including Care for Postpartum Women, Premature Birth Rate, and Depression Screening and Follow-Up):

• Maternal and infant health session: Monday, March 4, 2024, 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m

• Depression screening session: Monday, March 25, 2024, 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

We will provide comprehensive overviews of the four Key Performance Indicator (KPI), Performance Pool metrics, and proposed distribution models at these sessions. Your insights are crucial to help us refine these models and ensure alignment with our collective regional goals.

Click here to register for one or both sessions. If you cannot participate in either session, we will email the primary care medical provider (PCMP) network with instructions on how to view recordings of both session and submit your feedback. This feedback collection will be open for two weeks after the email. If you have any questions, please email the payment reform team.

ACC Phase III Draft Contract Stakeholder Engagement Opportunities

The Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF) has announced that the ACC Phase III Draft Contract will be published soon. Previously known as the Draft Request for Proposal (RFP), this Draft Contract outlines the contractual requirements for Regional Accountable Entities (RAEs) in ACC Phase III, based on policy and programmatic recommendations outlined in the ACC Phase III Concept Paper and stakeholder feedback.

HCPF has already hosted various public listening sessions about how to review the document and an overview of the key requirements. The remaining future meetings will be tailored to specific audiences:

• Advocates and Representatives from Community-based Organizations: Wednesday, February 21st, 12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
• Health First Colorado Members Only: Thursday, February 29th, 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Click the above links to register. After you register, you will get a confirmation email with information about joining the session. You can find recordings and materials from both here if you cannot attend either session.

Spanish interpretation, American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation, and live captioning will be available for both live sessions. Reasonable accommodations will be provided upon request. 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 emailhcpf_acc@state.co.us or the 504/ADA coordinator at hcpf504ada@state.co.us at least one week before the meeting to make arrangements.

Colorado Medicaid eConsult Updates

The secure, free electronic consultation platform Colorado Medicaid eConsult is officially live and operational for Health First Colorado providers. If you want to learn more or enroll, please email the eConsult vendor safety net connect at coloradosupport@safetynetconnect.com.

Public Health Emergency (PHE) Unwind Support

Please share HCPF partner toolkits (Update Your Address and Take Action on Your Renewal) to help Health First Colorado and Child Health Plan Plus (CHP+) members prepare for renewals. HCPF also has a new joint webpage with partner resources and information for those needing to transition to other coverage, keepcocovered.com.

HCPF also has member-facing materials in English and Spanish, and the top 11 languages members speak: Amharic, Arabic, Burmese, Chinese, Dari, Pashto, Russian, Somali, Swahili, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese.

Other ways you can help:

• Post flyers in public areas
• Include renewal messaging in your emails and newsletters
• Share social media posts
• Educate yourself on the basics of the renewal process

Learn more:

• Frequently asked questions
• PHE planning resource center
• Health First Colorado renewal webpage – English, Spanish
• Attend the next HCPF quarterly PHE unwind webinar on Wednesday, April 24th, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.

2024 Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) Updates

The Colorado interChange is being updated with the 2024 billing codes based on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) annual release of deletions, changes and additions. Claims billed with a HCPCS 2024 procedure code are suspending for EOB 0000 - "This claim/service is pending for program review." Learn more here.

Behavioral Health Stakeholder Webinar

Behavioral health stakeholders are invited to a free webinar about updates to the coverage policy mandated by Senate Bill (SB) 21-174 on Friday, March 1st, at 2:30 p.m. This will be the final community presentation before implementation, which is anticipated to take effect on July 1, 2024. Click here to register.