For his legislative support of the behavioral health community, State Senator Larry Crowder received the 2014 Community Behavioral Health Champion award in Alamosa on Monday. San Luis Valley Behavioral Health Group CEO Fernando Martinez and Colorado Behavioral Healthcare Council Associate Director of Policy and Government Affairs Frank Cornelia presented the award to the senator in…

CBHC submitted the following comments to the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) as feedback to the FY15 Strategic Plan Colorado’s behavioral health system is successfully working in communities across the state with mental health and substance use disorder services tailored to individual communities’ needs. We encourage CDHS to support this existing infrastructure that’s making and…

Listen to the 2014 Conference TED Talks! If you missed them at the conference or what to hear them again; re-visit the 6 talks presented by the 2014 Golden Lightbulb and Golden Abacus award nominees.   Golden Abacus TED Talks: Your browser does not support the audio element. or Download the Talk (46Mb) Golden Lightbulb…

Background In August, Congress passed and the President signed into law the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act. Among other elements, this new law requires the VA to establish procedures for veterans to get care outside the VA system under certain circumstances. This law was a reaction to the news that several VA facilities across…

CBHC is please extend congratulations to Lydia Prado, Ph.D., Vice President of Child and Family Services at the Mental Health Center of Denver! Dr. Prado will be given the annual Cesar Chavez Latino Leadership Hall of Fame Award tomorrow in a ceremony at the Woodury Branch Library in Denver at 3265 Federal Blvd., as part…

Washington, DC (September 2, 2014) — The National Council for Behavioral Health announced the 29 community behavioral health organizations from across six states selected to participate in the Reducing Adolescent Substance Abuse Initiative. This two-and-a-half year project is designed to help providers systematically implement a screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) protocol to…

A new federal law appropriates $10 billion for the Veteran’s Choice Fund to provide care to eligible veterans outside Veteran’s Administration (VA) facilities. Here are some details to consider about the requirements of this new law: Implementation timing—The law calls on the VA to promulgate regulations to identify how this law will be implemented within…

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has just released a final rule that, as previously signaled, changes the ICD-10 compliance date for providers, health plans and clearinghouses to Oct. 1, 2015 (a one-year delay from the originally anticipated Oct. 1, 2014, and the earliest permitted under the latest enacted “doc fix”). The rule…

Time to Implement! The Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF) has announced that they have completed the final requirements to begin enrolling eligible clients into the Accountable Care Collaborative (ACC): Medicare-Medicaid Program. The program will integrate and coordinate physical, behavioral and social health needs for over 50,000 full-benefit Medicare-Medicaid clients. The first group of clients…

CBHC and its members are proud to be part of Creating Community Solutions throughout Colorado, where Mental Health First Aid is emerging as a high priority for many communities. It’s an honor to be the adopted mother of two young adults. Life with them has been extraordinary, but I often tell people we live in…