Colorado Behavioral Healthcare Council Awarded $2.9 Million to Strengthen Rural Behavioral Health Care Across Colorado

Five providers serving rural and frontier communities will partner through a new initiative to expand workforce capacity, strengthen infrastructure and reduce the burden of going it alone

Media Contact: Frank Cornelia, Deputy Executive Director | fcornelia@cbhc.org | 720-573-9371

DENVER, Colo. — September 28, 2026 — The Colorado Behavioral Healthcare Council (CBHC) today announced it has been selected to receive $2,923,943 through Colorado’s Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) to help rural and frontier behavioral health providers build shared capacity in workforce, expertise and data infrastructure.

The funding is part of nearly $170 million in RHTP grants directed by the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing (HCPF) to rural healthcare providers across Colorado. Funded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), these investments will help protect access to care and support better health outcomes in Colorado’s rural and frontier communities.

The investment will launch CBHC’s Behavioral Health Capacity & Innovation Hub, developed in partnership with five providers serving rural and frontier communities: Centennial Mental Health Center, Crossroads Turning Points, North Range Behavioral Health, San Luis Valley Behavioral Health Group, and Valley-Wide Health Systems. Together, these organizations serve communities across northeastern Colorado’s Eastern Plains, the San Luis Valley, the lower Arkansas Valley and southeast Colorado, and rural Weld County. The Steadman Group (TSG) will provide project management support for the Hub.

“This investment is about strengthening the organizations that rural Coloradans depend on every day,” said Kara Johnson-Hufford, CEO of the Colorado Behavioral Healthcare Council. “Rural behavioral health providers are meeting growing community needs while facing workforce shortages, changing payment models and increasing administrative demands. The Hub gives us an opportunity to tackle some of those challenges together rather than asking every organization to solve them alone.”

The Hub is built around a straightforward idea: when several rural providers need the same capacity, they should be able to build or purchase it together rather than each organization having to recreate it on its own.

Building Shared Strength Across Rural Colorado

Through the first phase of the initiative, the five participating providers will work together in three primary areas:

· Workforce development and shared training — pooling demand and purchasing power for clinical training, professional development and supervision.

· Shared expertise and operational support — exploring shared access to specialty expertise while streamlining administrative workflows and duplicative processes.

· Data, technology and readiness for a changing healthcare system — strengthening information exchange and reporting while preparing providers for value-based payment and other emerging models of care.

“There are big challenges ahead for rural behavioral health, and we need to be ready for them,” said Charlie Davis, CEO of Crossroads Turning Points. “Workforce is one of our biggest concerns across the communities we serve, and the expectations around how we deliver and pay for care keep changing. The Hub gives us a chance to work together, share resources and expertise, and build the capabilities we need to keep care close to home for the patients we serve.”

The first year will begin with organizational needs and gap assessments, followed by development of pooled training, workforce supports and shared infrastructure. Participating providers will also receive direct funding to support staff time dedicated to Hub collaboration and value-based payment readiness. The project will measure its impact on administrative burden and organizational capacity.

Participating providers will remain independent, with CBHC serving as a convener and coordinating partner for shared purchasing, expertise, infrastructure and learning.

“The ultimate measure of success will not be the Hub itself,” Johnson-Hufford said. “It will be whether our rural partners have stronger workforces, better tools, more sustainable operations and greater capacity to care for their communities when this grant is over. We are grateful to HCPF for this investment and for recognizing behavioral health as an essential part of a strong rural healthcare system.”

The award is subject to execution of a formal grant agreement with the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing.

Colorado is directing $169,587,181 in RHTP grants to rural healthcare providers across the state. Through a highly competitive application process, 91 applicants and approximately 250 projects were selected to receive funding across 52 rural or frontier counties and three rural census tract counties.

A complete list of Colorado Rural Health Transformation Program awardees and additional information about RHTP is available on the RHTP website.

About the Colorado Behavioral Healthcare Council

The Colorado Behavioral Healthcare Council (CBHC) is the statewide membership association for behavioral healthcare providers. Through advocacy, policy, education and collaboration, CBHC creates the structure for professionals in the field to share their strength so that, together, they can sustain and improve Colorado’s behavioral health safety net. CBHC members collectively operate from more than 230 locations statewide, serving an estimated 200,000 Coloradans each year, including residents of many of the state’s rural and frontier communities.

About the Rural Health Transformation Program

The Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) is a five-year federal initiative administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) designed to strengthen healthcare access and improve health outcomes in rural and frontier communities. The program supports investments in workforce development, innovative care models, technology-enabled services, and health system sustainability. The program was authorized under Section 71401 of H.R. 1 (Public Law 119-21) to provide grants totaling $50 billion in federal funding nationwide from Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2026 through FFY 2030.

From the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Colorado’s award totals $200,105,604.17 for the first year of the program to support rural health transformation efforts across the state, and is 100% funded by CMS. The contents of this release are those of the Colorado Behavioral Healthcare Council and the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by, CMS/HHS or the U.S. Government.

CBHC Press Release RHTP