Friday, September 30, 2011

Latest Estimates of Colorado’s Uninsured

Earlier this month, the U.S. Census Bureau released information on Americans’ income, poverty, and health insurance coverage for 2010. Nationally, median household income declined and the poverty rate increased. While the number of Americans without health insurance increased, the overall percentage was not statistically different from the previous year. The Colorado Health Institute (CHI) released a report on state-level findings, noting that Colorado was the only state that recorded a statistically significant decline in the number of uninsured individuals between 2007-08 and 2009-10. Read CHI’s report.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Free Clinic Establishes Home Base

St Benedict Health and Healing Ministry has established a home base for its offices and free clinic operations, which serve East Boulder County.  Although they have been in Boulder County for six years, this is the first time they have had a central location.  They intend to increase the number of free clinics they provide to serve the medically underserved individuals in the area. Read more in a recent Boulder Daily Camera article.

Proposed Changes to CHP+

The Medical Services Board is proposing new cost sharing requirements for the Children’s Basic Health Plan (CHP+). As outlined in the proposed rules released on Monday, the annual enrollment fee for families with incomes between 200 and 250% of the federal poverty level would be $75/ year for one child and $105/ year for two or more children. The proposed rules would also increase co-payments based on family income. The initial approval date and public comment hearing on these proposals is October 14. Please click here for more information about the meeting and contact Alicia Haywood if you have any questions or feedback.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Get Fit: A Rocky Mountain Youth Program to Reduce Childhood Obesity

This article is an excerpt from an article in Health Policy Solutions, written by Katie Kerwin McCrimmon.

Group appointments represent one of the newest trends in health care. They help medical practitioners save time and create support communities for patients. Dr. Kim White and nutritionist Beth Ondrako found that they could give the same information to multiple people at once. And, if some “no shows” forget to come, the providers haven’t wasted their time. On this day, the turnout is great and the conference room is packed. Organizers have encouraged family members to attend since getting fit is a family affair. The group meeting also helps take away the stigma of coping with weight issues.

Welcome to cutting-edge care in the escalating war on child obesity.

“It lets the kids be in an atmosphere where they understand that there are a lot of kids who struggle with the exact same thing,” Ondrako said. “You touch more people’s lives in a group,” said White. “They get to interact with each other. It’s more fun. We want them to follow through. These kids are not thinking, ‘Oh, I have to be worried about diabetes someday.’ We try to find what inspires them. Why is this better for me? Maybe it’s so I can run faster.”

Dr. Cheryl Saipe, a pediatrician at Rocky Mountain Youth Clinics, created the Get Fit Clinic in 2006 because she and other providers were seeing so many children who were overweight and obese. Ondrako later came up with the idea of giving kids a written prescription to get fit. Now, during well-child visits, providers can give any family the prescription and invite them to join the Get Fit Clinic.

Nearly 650 children have participated in Get Fit since 2007 and another 147 have enrolled so far this year. Interest has been so high recently that Ondrako, the nutritionist, has doubled the time she spends each month at clinics in Denver, Thornton and Aurora. Organizers hope to expand funding next year to reach children at their mobile and school based clinics.

Altogether, the nonprofit provides care for more than 35,000 children during 55,000 visits a year. There are traditional pediatric clinics like this one in Denver along with non-traditional sites throughout the Denver area.

Most of the patients – 85 percent – come from low-income families whose children qualify for public health programs like Medicaid and CHP+. White estimates that more than half of all the kids she sees are obese. Among children ages 10 to 15, the numbers are even more staggering. “My guess is that over 85 percent are obese. It’s an epidemic,” White said. “Patients and parents are finally beginning to realize it’s a problem. In the past, we’d hear, ‘He’s fine. He’ll outgrow it.’” Yet, even when parents are willing to tackle obesity, they need help. And medical providers can’t do much to reverse the complex problem in short annual well-child visits.

Without intensive follow-up care, children and families stick with the same old patterns and come back year after year with ever-increasing weights that forecast lifelong health problems from diabetes to heart disease.

Childhood obesity in Colorado is increasing at the second fastest rate in the country. And the epidemic is especially pronounced among children of color and low-income kids.

In order to succeed, the Get Fit program very deliberately does not focus on weight loss. Rather, it’s much more about making incremental changes that promote a healthy lifestyle. “They’re not going to change because we tell them to do it. No one can do it for the child. You want them empowered with knowledge to change their lives,” White said. Lasting results are measured in small steps. Providers at Rocky Mountain tell children that every person’s body looks different and that’s fine. They encourage family members to focus on maintaining their current weight. Then, over time, as children grow taller, they will almost certainly grow leaner. And, healthy habits can last a lifetime.

To read the complete article, click here.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Hunger Free Colorado Summit

October 5, 2011; 7:30am-4:45pm; Doubletree Hilton Denver Tech Center
Registration is now open for the Hunger Free Colorado Summit 2011. Click here to view the agenda and register.  This one-day event will unite nonprofit organizations, faith community leaders, government representatives, and foundation and corporate leadership for a full day of cross-sector learning.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Grant Opportunity

The Breast and Women’s Reproductive Cancers Fund Advisory Board has announced a grant opportunity resulting from the 2010 Colorado income tax checkoff program. Grants are capped at $5,000 and the work must be completed by June 30, 2012. Proposals are due on September 30, 2011 by 10:00 pm. For more information and the application, go to: http://coloradocancercheckoff.org/grants

Colorado HealthStory completes pilot phase!

ColoradoHealthStory, a three-year project of the Colorado Rural Health Center, ClinicNET and the Colorado Coalition for the Medically Underserved, recently completed the pilot phase of their story collecting project. Modeled after the award winning StoryCorps, Colorado HealthStory invites Coloradans to tell their own health story and begin a dialogue about health care across our communities. Colorado HealthStory, funded in late 2010 by The Colorado Trust and The Colorado Health Foundation, is working to create an appreciation of our shared experiences of health, one conversation at a time. Everyone has a story to tell, whether it be the joyous birth of a baby, the moving experience of sitting with a dying parent, a journey of remarkable healing, the perspective gained from providing care or struggling to navigate our complicated healthcare system.

Colorado HealthStory staff began gathering audio recordings this summer in three focus communities: Rocky Ford, Summit County and Aurora. After collecting and editing a body of stories in each community, HealthStory gathered community members together for a local forum and listening session. During the forums, storytellers, providers, elected officials, advocates and other members of the community were able to listen to collected stories and speak about local shared health issues. Health profiles for the region were presented at each forum which highlighted recorded stories and local health data. This fall, HealthStory staff will hit the road again to record stories in three additional communities.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Advocacy-Focused Lunch and Learn: Patient Safety and Quality

Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2011

Children's Hospital Colorado is hosting a Lunch and Learn on Tuesday, Sept. 27, at their facility in Aurora, which will feature leading local experts who will discuss how to serve as a child's number one advocate when it comes to health care.

Often, parents and caregivers don’t know how to efficiently and effectively participate in the process so that their voices and concerns are addressed as decisions are made. This event will teach parents and caregivers how to communicate with health care providers to receive the information they need to make important and informed decisions for their kids. Children’s Hospital Colorado’s chief quality officer, Dan Hyman, M.D., and Family Voices’ executive director Christy Blakely will provide useful information about available resources as well as helpful tips and tools so that families can get the safe and quality care they need, when they need it.

For more information or to sign up, please visit: Children's Hospital Colorado.

Monday, September 19, 2011

HIT & Quality Webinar: Impact of ICD-10 on Safety Net Providers

Friday, September 23, 2011; 2:00-3:30 PM EST

Are you aware that there are ICD-10 conversion activities that need be completed by January 1? Do you understand how ICD-10 will impact you?

This webinar will provide technical assistance and examples of how safety net providers from various settings have begun planning to comply with the health industry’s conversion to a greatly expanded and fundamentally new coding system for the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10).

As a prerequisite to ICD-10 compliance, healthcare organizations are also required to adopt updated electronic transaction standards, known as HIPAA 5010, by January 1, 2012. Failure to address this issue in a timely manner may lead to an inability to bill Medicaid and Medicare. Providers who have not begun the planning and budgeting process need to become more proactive and work with their billing and health information technology providers/managers to assess where their operations stand relative to the ICD-10 final rule. Developing strategic plans and taking action now will help to mitigate late-stage rushes for compliance during the last months of this year.

Webinar presenters will discuss the ramifications of failing to meet compliance deadlines, and highlight ICD-10 resources that are available to safety net providers. In addition, they will touch on the strategies to avoid implementation bottlenecks.

Registration Link: http://webcast.streamlogics.com/audience/index.asp?eventid=50985353

Sunday, September 18, 2011

WebEx Meeting on Medicaid Expansion

September, 27, 2011; 3pm MDT

The Department of Health Care Policy and Financing will be hosting a WebEx meeting to discuss the Adults without Dependent Children Expansion and the proposed 1115 Demonstration Waiver, to be submitted to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. During this session Department staff will share lessons learned from other states, updated information about the AwDC population in Colorado and information about benefits, eligibility and timing. Prior to submission of the section 1115 Demonstration Waiver, the Department is interested in your feedback regarding the approach.

To join the online meeting
  1. Go to https://acs-inc.webex.com/acs-inc/j.php?ED=156888052&UID=1163348452&PW=NNGVmMmYxYWJi&RT=MiM2 
  2. If requested, enter your name and email address.
  3. If a password is required, enter the meeting password: awdc1
  4. Click "Join".
To join the teleconference
  • Call-in toll-free number: 1-866-581-1933 (US)
  • Call-in number: 1-517-876-5009 (US)
  • Participant access code: 747 030 5
For assistance
  1. Go to https://acs-inc.webex.com/acs-inc/mc
  2. On the left navigation bar, click "Support".
Meeting information
Meeting Number: 794 080 175
Meeting Password: awdc1

Colorado Health Foundation Public Comment Hearings

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers is reviewing the Colorado Health Foundation's proposal to sell its interest in the HCA-HealthONE hospital system to its joint venture partner, HCA Holdings Inc. The Attorney General has determined that the proposed $1.45 billion transaction does not fall under the Colorado Hospital Transfer Act, which means that if he ultimately approves the sale, proceeds would be obtained and managed by the Foundation.

This sale is being evaluated carefully since it could have significant ramifications on Colorado health care.  Among the criteria being considered:
  • The transaction must serve the public interest.
  • The Foundation must receive fair market value for the sale of its 40 percent interest.
  • The Foundation must maintain its historic charitable mission and function.
To ensure public comment on this important matter, the Attorney General has scheduled hearings regarding the proposed sale on the following dates, times and locations:
  • Monday, Sept. 26, 6-9 p.m. at Rose Medical Center, 4567 E. 9th Ave. in Denver
  • Tuesday, Sept. 27, 9 a.m.-noon at Skyridge Medical Center, 10101 Ridgegate Parkway in Lone Tree
If you cannot attend one of the meetings but would like to contribute comments to the Attorney General's Office concerning the hospital transfer, you can do so via hospitaltransfer@state.co.us or by sending a letter to 1525 Sherman St., 7th floor, Denver, CO 80203.

To learn more about the Attorney General's analysis of the proposed transaction and the upcoming hearings, read this news release from the Attorney General's office.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

HCPF and MAXIMUS Workgroup Meeting

September 22, 2011; 10:30 AM to 12:00PM
This workgroup meeting will cover CHP+ manual enrollments, the volume coming into MAXIMUS, the top five reasons community partners contact MAXIMUS, PEAK, and the interfaces.

Teleconference Information
Participant Dial-in Number 877-295-0961
Event Pass Code 99877563

Questions can be sent before and during the meeting to workgroup_coeemap@maximus.com.  The PowerPoint presentation will be sent September 20.

HCPF Information for Safety Net Clinics

Governmental departments publish regular newsletters containing valuable information.  Click on the link below to access this recent publication from the Department of Health Care Policy & Financing:

Thursday, September 15, 2011

KPStep program now open to new enrollment

The KPStep program provides Kaiser Permanente benefits at greatly reduced rates for up to 24 months to eligible individuals who otherwise could not afford health care. Monthly premiums are based on family size and income. The coverage includes a FREE health risk appraisal, preventive services, hospitalization, and pharmacy benefits. Some benefits are limited and this plan may not meet all your health care needs if you have a complex health condition or suffer a catastrophic event.

To be eligible for KPStep, applicants must meet certain criteria:
  • Must live within Kaiser Permanente Denver/Metro service area
  • Must be between the ages of 0 and 34
  • Must be income eligible - see chart to the right
  • Must not be eligible for an employer-sponsored health plan where the employer pays at least 50% of the cost of coverage
  • Must not be pregnant at time of application
  • Must not be in a hospice, nursing home, or other institution
  • Must not be in need of a transplant referral or evaluation, on a transplant list, have end-stage renal disease, or had a transplant
  •  Must not have coverage under a Kaiser Permanente Charitable Health Coverage Plan, unless coverage was as an underage or student dependent on a parent’s plan
Monthly premiums start at $18.15 for one person, and $36.30 for a family, based on family size and income (Premiums are subject to change). If you failure to send in your monthly payments, your coverage will end and you will be unable to re-apply.

For more information or to apply please contact Kaiser Permanente Community Information Line at 303-338-3490 (TTY for the deaf, hard of hearing, or speech impaired: 1-800-659-2656), weekdays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Download the KPStep materials:

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

New resource for health insurance education

The Colorado Division of Insurance has launched a new website and education campaign to help consumers better understand their health insurance.  This is an excellent resource to which you can direct patients who have questions.

You can also download the related materials for distribution:
If you have feedback or ideas for the website, please contact Marianne Goodland at marianne.goodland@dora.state.co.us.

DOI is planning two webinars in September and three town hall meetings in October (Denver, Greeley, and Grand Junction).  More information about these events will be coming next week.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Connecting Health Education to Service: A Networking Event Oct. 13th

Thursday, October 13, 2011; 3 - 7 p.m.
University of Colorado at Anschutz Campus in Aurora, CO

This event is an opportunity for your organization to directly recruit physician residents and health care professional students as well as network with Colorado health care professional school staff and faculty. Health care professional students and residents will be able to learn about your site and explore the options available to them within the safety net clinics. The goal of this event is to encourage innovative solutions to the workforce issues facing Colorado, specifically within unique rural and urban communities where safety net clinics are located.

Free to attend, food and drink will be provided.  Travel reimbursement will be available for safety net organizations coming from at least 50 miles away.  Registration is required. Please RSVP here!

Monday, September 12, 2011

CommunityConnections Blog Highlights

These two blog posts from The Colorado Trust are worth a read!

Health Reform from the Perspective of the Business Community
by Kelly Brough, President & CEO, Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce
Insights from the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce's 8th Annual Health Care Policy Breakfast

The Role of Patient Navigators in Decreasing Health Disparities
by Chris Armijo, Program Officer, The Colorado Trust
The Affordable Care Act offers the opportunity to reduce health disparities through patient navigators

Friday, September 9, 2011

ClinicNET talks Patient Centered Medical Home

ClinicNET and the Colorado Rural Health Center have released a brief on the Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) model to support the model and provide services to assist clinics in pursuing certification or designation.

We believe that health information technology, health information exchange, and the use of registries and other tools help to assure that patients in PCMH model get quality care when and where they need it.  Quality care is culturally and linguistically appropriate, and is provided at an appropriate health literacy level.  Download the PCMH brief to learn more.

PCMH Landscape Brief

Thursday, September 8, 2011

IMPORTANT: 2011 Salary & Benefits Survey

ClinicNET is thrilled to announce the 2011 Salary & Benefits Survey for community-funded safety net clinics.  Support and technical assistance for this opportunity has been made available to ClinicNET by the Colorado Provider Recruitment program, a service of the Colorado Rural Health Center. We hope that your clinic will participate in this valuable project. The deadline for completing the survey is September 19, 2011.  The report based on this survey, to be available in early 2012, will be:
  • A valuable component for evaluating existing salary and benefits structures for selected employees
  • Useful when addressing compensation questions
  • A component for determining the economic impact of your organization
  • Completely CONFIDENTIAL; all reported data will be in aggregate, and no one other than ClinicNET and CRHC will have access to individual health clinic information
Survey Document
The 2011 Salary & Benefits Survey is an Excel document; please note that this document includes four spreadsheets:
  • TAB 1 contains the instructions for the contact information portion of the survey
  • TAB 2 contains the survey tool for contact information
  • TAB 3 contains the instructions for the salary and benefits portion of the survey **
  • TAB 4 contains the survey tool for the salary and benefits information
**Many clinics utilize volunteer clinicians, administrators, etc.  Please place a “V” in the salary and benefits columns for those individuals and indicate in the FTE column if their volunteer work is fulltime (1.0), part-time (.5), quarter time (.25), etc. Aggregate information on the number of volunteers providing services is helpful to ClinicNET as we continue to provide education about the health care safety net in Colorado.

CLICK HERE to download the survey

Important Notes
  • Please have one person at your clinic complete the survey. If you are not the appropriate person to complete this survey, please ensure that the appropriate person receives the survey.
  • You may either complete the survey as an electronic Excel document (preferred), or print it out and fill it in by hand.
  • Completed electronic surveys should be emailed to Brooke Powers at brooke.powers@clinicnet.org.
  • Completed paper surveys should be faxed to Brooke Powers at (303) 832-7496. 
  • NOTE:  If you receive a security warning about macros when opening this document, please choose “Disable Macros”.  You will not lose any functionality with your spreadsheet.
Participation Incentives
We understand that completing the survey will take time, and that you all are very busy.  As incentives for participation:
  • Persons submitting surveys by the September 19th deadline will be entered in a drawing to win one of four $25 gift certificates from Amazon.com.
  • The 2011 Salary & Benefits Report is scheduled to be released in early 2012.  All organizations that submit a completed survey will receive one free copy of the report.
What Will Be In the Final Report
The final 2011 Salary & Benefits Report will contain:
  • Average salary and salary ranges by position title
  • Average dollar amount of benefits, plus the average benefits as a percentage of the average salary
  • Salary and benefits information for executive level employees (Executive Director, Fiscal Director, etc.) and for clinical providers and clinical mid-level staff broken down by years of employment
  • Information based on (4) Regions; Front Range, South Central, Eastern & Western Colorado

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

ICD-10 Webinar

September 20, 2011; 12-3pm

Register now for a webinar offered by the Colorado Rural Health Center, covering ICD-10, documentation, billing and coding updates, as well as identify practical ways to be proactively prepared for the future.  All health care providers, particularly physicians are invited to attend.

Click here for more information and to register.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Eligibility Verification Interfaces are Live as of August 29th

To make it easier for applicants for public programs, CBMS (Colorado Benefits Management System) will interface with other systems to receive information about the applicant's income and citizenship.

Covering Kids and Families has information on these interfaces, which will be of interest for those who do application assistance as well as public policy staff.  Please contact Christy Trimmer if you have questions.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Clinics celebrate Safety Net Clinic Week!

Highlights of Safety Net Clinic Week 2011 include:

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Update on State Medicaid Expansion to Adults without Dependent Children

The Colorado Dept. of Health Care Policy & Financing has made decisions regarding expanding Medicaid coverage to adults without dependent children (AwDC), including when and how the expansion will begin and who will be eligible in the first phase. Please click here to read the update provided by The Colorado Coalition for the Medically Underserved's Connect Campaign. ClinicNET participates in the Connect Campaign and other efforts to educate and help inform policy decisions. We would love to hear your concerns about the expansion and ideas for how the expansion can best move forward. Please email Brooke Powers at brooke.powers@clinicnet.org with your thoughts.