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NEW REPORT ON INCREASING ENROLLMENT

The Maze - The Barriers That Keep Colorado's Eligible Children and Families Out of Medicaid and CHP+ and Recommendations to Create a Direct Path to EnrollmentA new report by Colorado Covering Kids and Families analyzes the administrative and policy barriers to an effective Medicaid and CHP+ enrollment system in Colorado. The report – The Maze – The Barriers That Keep Colorado's Eligible Children and Families Out of Medicaid and CHP+ and Recommendations to Create a Direct Path to Enrollment – offers 18 recommendations for improving the system. While the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF) cannot currently address all the barriers identified in the report, it will focus in 2009-2010 on improving its approach to educating parents about benefits, resources and how to access care. It will also provide enrollment assistance sites with additional training, made possible through a Trust-funded outreach and enrollment specialist, and funding to support enrollment fairs.

Additionally, HCPF recently completed an assessment of the current administration of eligibility and enrollment, and has drafted a Request for Proposals for services to modernize the system. Modernization will include a customer service center, an electronic document management system and automatic verification of income documentation.

The Trust-sponsored Covering Kids and Families report, as well as HCPF's response to the report, are available upon request to Tanya Beer, Assistant Director of Research, Evaluation & Strategic Learning, 303-837-1200, tanya@coloradotrust.org.