March 15, 2011 – The Department of Health Care Policy and Financing has received a $335,000 award from the Colorado Health Foundation to meet the demands of Medicaid and Child Health Plan Plus, or CHP+ applications. The backlog of applications is the result of the Department’s effort to increase coverage statewide, along with ongoing outreach initiatives.“We requested funding from the Colorado Health Foundation in order to deliver on our promise to provide benefits to the state’s most vulnerable residents in a timely manner,” said Sue Birch, executive director. “Over the past year, the department has increased the number of certified sites who can help persons fill out the application for public health insurance by 160 percent – from 68 to 177 sites. Presumptive eligibility sites, those who can determine eligibility presumptively based on family size and income, have been increased by 48 percent – 88 to 130.”
The department initiated an application overflow unit in April 2009. The unit triaged almost 7,000 family and children’s applications this past year, allowing families to access their health care services sooner and receive services in more appropriate settings. The unit allowed for applications to be processed and completed within two weeks, as opposed to two months or longer.
The grant funding will re-establish a vendor, IDS, as the central triage entity for the application overflow process. IDS will request missing documentation from applicants as well as determine eligibility, and send completed case files to the appropriate eligibility site for ongoing maintenance and storage.
Medicaid is public health insurance for low-income families, children, pregnant women, the elderly and people with disabilities. Eligibility is based on income and family size. The program is funded jointly by a federal-state partnership and is administered by the department.
CHP+ is low-cost health and dental insurance for Colorado children and pregnant women. Families, who make too much money to be eligible for Medicaid, but not enough to afford private insurance, are eligible for CHP+.
About the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing: The department administers the Medicaid and Child Health Plan Plus programs as well as a variety of other programs for Colorado’s low-income, elderly and people with disabilities. The mission of the department is to improve access to cost-effective, quality health care services for Coloradans. For more information, please visit Colorado.gov/hcpf.
The Colorado Health Foundation works to make Colorado the healthiest state in the nation by investing in grants and initiatives to health-related nonprofits that focus on increasing the number of Coloradans with health insurance, ensuring they have access to quality, coordinated care and encouraging healthy living. For more information, please visit www.ColoradoHealth.org.
