High-Acuity Crisis for Children & Youth

Colorado's Child Welfare System Interim Study Committee. The bill requires the department of health care policy and financing, in collaboration with the behavioral health administration (BHA) and the department of human services, to develop a system of care (system of care) for children and youth who are less than 21 years of age and who have complex behavioral health needs. At a minimum, the system of care must include:

• Implementation of a standardized assessment tool;
• Intensive-care coordination;
• Expanded supportive services; and
• Expanded access to treatment foster care.

The bill creates the residential child care provider training academy in the department of human services to create a pipeline of high-quality staff for residential child care providers and ensure that individuals hired to work at residential child care facilities receive the necessary training to perform the individual's job functions responsibly and effectively.

The bill requires the department of human services to develop a system to establish and monitor quality standards for residential child care providers and ensure the quality standards are implemented into all levels of care that serve children and youth in out-of-home placement. The bill requires the department of human services to develop a system to incentivize residential child care providers to implement quality standards above the department of human services' established minimum standards.

The bill requires the department of human services to make a directory of each residential child care provider's quality assurance publicly available on the department's website.

The department of human services program that provides emergency resources to licensed providers to help remove barriers the providers face in serving children and youth whose behavioral or mental health needs require services and treatment in a residential child care facility currently repeals on July 1, 2028. The bill extends the program indefinitely and requires the department of human services to contract with additional licensed providers for the delivery of services to children and youth who are eligible for and placed in the program.

The bill requires the department of human services and the BHA to increase the minimum reimbursement rates paid to qualified residential treatment programs for the purpose of aligning room and board payments across payer sources.

The bill requires the department of health care policy and financing to contract with a third-party vendor to complete an actuarial analysis in order to determine the appropriate medicaid reimbursement rate for psychiatric residential treatment facilities.

The bill requires the department of human services to contract with one or more third-party vendors to implement a pilot program to assess the needs of, and provide short-term residential services for, juvenile justice-involved youth who do not meet the criteria for detention.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)