Data recently reviewed by state lawmakers reinforces findings from a Colorado Sun investigation that found 13% of adoptions of foster children have failed in the last decade — mainly due to behavioral issues
Medicaid
Posted inHealth
Kids’ health is impacted most by life outside a doctor’s office, so Children’s Hospital is treating social-economic wellness, too
Children’s Hospital Colorado’s Resource Connect helps families get fresh food, rental assistance, help with their electric bills, diapers and school supplies
Posted inHealth
Medicaid denials for Colorado children with severe disabilities set off “sheer panic” among parents
The state Medicaid division announced a 60-day temporary delay on the denials but families want permanent, immediate action
Posted inHealth
Colorado is losing another birth center as midwifery struggles to stay profitable despite rising popularity
The closure of Thornton’s Seasons Birth Center leaves the state with just six birth centers, which are reimbursed at lower rates by insurance companies
Posted inHealth
Colorado mental health workers demand equal pay. But a new state report says their rates are “adequate.”
A report ordered by the legislature to examine Medicaid reimbursement rates for mental health providers has further annoyed therapists in private practice.
Posted inHealth, News, Politics and Government
Colorado has added nearly 500,000 people to its Medicaid rolls since 2020. What happens when the emergency order ends?
In normal times, about 35,000 people drop off the government health insurance plan for the needy each month, usually because someone in their household got a new job and they no longer qualify. But since the coronavirus pandemic, and a federal public health emergency declaration more than two years ago, no one has lost their […]
Posted inHealth, News, Politics and Government
Colorado mental health providers say they were “blindsided” again by Medicaid policies
Colorado mental health counselors in private practice say they’ve been surprised once again with new rules that will make it harder to treat the state’s most vulnerable patients: those with Medicaid insurance. The latest friction between behavioral health professionals and the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing centers on the supervision of post-graduate […]
Posted inEconomy, Equity, Health, News
Slow loss of obstetrics care forces rural Coloradans into long drives, or long stays, when babies arrive
When Georgina Bishop became pregnant with her third child, things got complicated. Not with the pregnancy itself or even the labor. But she did drive two-and-a-half hours — one way — to reach the hospital so she could give birth. Bishop lives in Telluride. With her first two children—now 6 and 10 years old—she used […]
Posted inColoradans, Health
Whistleblowers say they falsified patient records at Western Slope community mental health center
A troubled Western Slope mental health care center falsified assessments of its patients’ conditions for at least nine years in an effort to make its treatment programs seem more effective and secure funding from the state, whistleblowers say. The state overlooked what former workers describe as a long practice by the Grand Junction-based Mind Springs […]
Posted inHealth, News, Politics and Government
Colorado lawmakers aim to protect mental health therapists from billing headaches, clawbacks after a rough year
It’s been a rough year for Colorado mental health therapists willing to care for low-income patients on Medicaid. Some were ordered last fall to pay back thousands of dollars to a middle-man contractor the state hires to handle billing for therapy they’d already provided, so-called “clawbacks” that threatened to close small clinics. Others quit taking […]