HomeMy WebLinkAbout20221382.tiffMariah Higgins
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Hi Mariah,
Alison Pegg
Monday, May 9, 2022 1:07 PM
CTB
HS -Contract Management
COMMUNICATION ITEM: PHE performance incentive and staffing plan beyond FY
2021-22
HCPF OM 22-023 FY 2021-22 Continuous Coverage (Continuous Eligibility) Performance
Incentive_0.pdf; Submitted March 2022 HCPF Staffing Plan Weld County.pdf
Follow up
Flagged
This communication item is related to Tyler ID 2021-1327 which was listed as a communications item on the BoCC
Agenda on May 24, 2021.
The State released the attached Operational Memo on May 4, 2022. The federal government has extended the COID-19
Public Health Emergency (PHE) starting on April 16, 2022 and is expected to continue through July 15, 2022. This means
that Medical Assistance members will continue to be "locked in" to coverage past FY 2021-22 which impacts the
work of our county Assistance Payments Division within DNS. Therefore, as stated in the memo, the State updated
the requirements of the Continuous Coverage (Continuous Eligibility) Performance Incentive to reflect the
extension of the PHE and the required deliverable necessary to earn the Continuous Coverage (Continuous
Eligibility) Performance Incentive Payment at the end of the state fiscal year.
The State also requested that each county submit an updated PHE Staffing Plan by March 15, 2022. Our Assistance
Payments Division complied with this request and submitted the attached staffing plan to the State on March 9, 2022.
I am requesting that both of these items be added to Tyler ID 2021-1327 for record keeping purposes.
Thank you!
Alison Pegg
Contract Management and Compliance Coordinator
Weld County Dept. of Human Services
315 N. 11th Ave., Bldg A
PO Box A
Greeley, CO 80632
'x'(970) 400-6603
Contract Management Extension: 6556
g (970) 353-5212
Pq
apegg@weldgov.com
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COMMUn;CO. ;onS
S /ig/22
1
2022-1382
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2
SO
COLORADO
Department of Health Care
Policy Et Financing
OPERATIONAL MEMO
TITLE:
FY 2021-22 CONTINUOUS COVERAGE
(CONTINUOUS ELIGIBILITY) PERFORMANCE
INCENTIVE
SUPERSEDES NUMBER:
HCPF OM 21-041
EFFECTIVE DATE:
MAY 4, 2022
DIVISION AND OFFICE:
COMMUNICATIONS AND GOVERNMENT
RELATIONS, POLICY, COMMUNICATIONS &
ADMINISTRATION OFFICE
PROGRAM AREA:
COUNTY RELATIONS AND ADMINISTRATION
KEY WORDS:
COVID-19 PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY,
INCENTIVES PROGRAM, CONTINUOUS
COVERAGE
OPERATIONAL MEMO NUMBER: HCPF OM 22-023
ISSUE DATE: MAY 4, 2022
APPROVED BY: RACHEL REITER
HCPF Memo Series can be accessed online: htirs://www.colorado.gov/hcof/memo-series
Purpose and Audience:
The purpose of this Operational Memo is to set the final deliverable required from each
county department of human/social services (county) for the Continuous Coverage
(Continuous Eligibility) Performance Incentive as part of the FY 2021-22 County
Incentives Program. The Performance Incentive was updated due to the federal
government extending the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) past the end of
state fiscal year 2021-22. The Incentive continues to be weighted at 20 percent of total
County Incentives funding.
Background:
At the beginning of the 2021-22 fiscal year, the Continuous Coverage (Continuous
Eligibility) Performance Incentive was implemented with an understanding that
members would not be disenrolled due to changes in circumstances until the federal
government terminated the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE). However,
HCPF OM 22-023
Page 2 of 2
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra has formally extended the
Public Health Emergency (PHE); the extension started April 16, 2022, and if extended a
full 90 days, runs through July 15, 2022. This means that Medical Assistance members
will continue to be "locked in" to coverage past FY 2021-22. Therefore, the Department
of Health Care Policy and Financing (the Department) has updated the requirements of
the Continuous Coverage (Continuous Eligibility) Performance Incentive to reflect the
extension of the PHE and the required deliverable necessary to earn the Continuous
Coverage (Continuous Eligibility) Performance Incentive Payment at the end of the state
fiscal year.
Information/ Procedures:
Each county was required to submit an updated PHE Staffing Plan to the Department by
March 15, 2022. If PHE Staffing Plan was submitted by the due date, the Department
has determined the county to have complied with the Continuous Coverage Incentive
requirement and issue the Incentive Payment to each county with an updated PHE
Staffing Plan on file. The final Status Report, sent in July 2022, will be shared with
Directors and Secondary Directors through existing processes and will document
whether the county submitted the PHE Staffing Plan and earned the Incentive Payment.
Contract Language
Contract Language for the Continuous Eligibility Performance Incentive found in the
FY2021-22 County Incentives Contract in section 4.5 is hereby updated and compliance
with the Continuous Coverage (Continuous Eligibility) Performance Incentive will be
determined utilizing the guidance issued in this Operational Memo.
COVID-related Guidance
Guidance related to the PHE can be found on the Department's County COVID
Resources webpage.
Attachment(s):
None
Department Contact:
HCPFCountyRelations(astate.co.us
DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES
PO Box A Greeley, CO 80632
Website: www.co.weld.co.us
Administration and Public Assistance (970) 352-1551
Child Support (970) 352-6933
Fax Number (970) 346-7665
Purpose:
The purpose of this document is to outline the details of Weld County's plan needed to
continue to access additional county administration funding in support of upcoming county
response efforts to address the end of the public health emergency (PHE).
Reason for Action: Background and Context
At the conclusion of the federally determined PHE an eligibility review is required for all
"locked in" Medicaid recipients. This means everyone "locked in" will receive an eligibility
review packet that they must complete, sign, and return to the county office for a
reassessment of their individual program eligibility at that time. It is anticipated that the
PHE will end between October and December 2022. At this time there are currently
555,664 individuals locked in throughout the state in Colorado. Weld County DHS
currently has a locked in population of 30,816 individuals.
In accordance with the expectations outlined in Operational Memo HCPF OM -21-036 Weld
County has hired and trained additional, full time, merit -based staff to address the
increased workload expected at the expiration of the Public Health Emergency. These
additional staff members are part of an overflow staffing pool of 100% FTE, non -term
limited employees and will be moved to other teams through attrition after the PHE work
has been addressed.
Staffing Plan
Med only Processing
Weld County has hired and trained nine (9) additional full-time eligibility technicians.
These staff members have not been trained as generalist but rather address Medicaid only
work for the county. These staff address both case processing and member calls by
increasing the number of trained technicians on our existing ACD phone lines. The PHE has
been extended longer than initially anticipated so we have also had time to train some of
these Med Only technicians in LTC Medicaid only processing.
LTSS
Because LTC requires additional lengthy training the county will be leveraging existing
resources to support this workload. The LTC unit consists of five fully trained eligibility
technicians. We are training four additional Medicaid only technicians in all LTC aspects
and they will be able to respond to increased workload for LTC programs specifically. In
addition to this group we have already trained two Program Resource Specialist who are
subject matter experts for the county, in LTC programs as well. And finally, we have three
quality case reviewers who are trained in LTC programs should we need even more
resources in this area.
Hearings and Appeals
Weld County is not anticipating significant increases to our hearings and appeals requests.
We currently have adequate staffing and bandwidth in this internal organization. We do
plan to formalize a communication plan specific to customer awareness as we near the end
of the PH E. We also anticipate that the state will pursue a similar member awareness
campaign that we can leverage as well.
Customer Service Staff (CSS)
Weld County has hired and trained two (2) additional full time Customer Support Specialist
who are assist the existing CSS teams with managing incoming work through various paths
along with scanning and uploading documents for easeful eligibility technician access.
Other Staff
Weld County has temporarily promoted an existing Eligibility Technician into a
supervisory role to provide oversite and support to the new team of Medicaid only
technicians. This has created a leadership development opportunity for an existing
employee and helped to expedite onboarding efforts.
Timeline
Weld County started the recruitment process for the positions identified above in late May
2021 per the state's guidance. We have completed onboarding and training as of
September 2021, again per the state's guidance.
Training
Weld County has an internal training team consisting of three (3) Staff Development Center
(SDC) certified trainers. We further expect that one (1) additional SDC certified trainer will
be in place before April 2022. The training team just completed the training for two of our
existing Medicaid only eligibility technicians in LTC programs. This positions us to address
the LTC support needs. We have completed MAGI/Non-MAGI training for the nine new
eligibility technicians, and they are in various phases of our trainee transition program.
Without any resignations, we anticipate them all to be fully trained and processing cases
independently by July 1, 2021.
Forecasting Data Used
Eligibility Teams
It is anticipated the PHE declaration will formally end between October and December
2022. As of March 9, 2022, Weld County has 30,816 individuals "locked in" to Medicaid
programs.
In reviewing the last year of data, the county has experienced a steady increase month over
month as members are approved and continue to lock into coverage.
Managing Workload and Call Volume:
The addition of two CSS team members will help to managing the incoming work through
the lobbies and mail room. This work will include customer interaction, document
screening, scanning, and uploading efforts.
Weld County does not currently have a "call center" and the county manages client calls
through an ACD phone line system. In early 2021 the county upgraded this system to
include advanced customer center features that will indicate the callers place in line and
the estimated wait time. The new feature also allows the customer to self-select a call back
when it is their turn to prevent them from needing to remain on the phone while waiting to
be served. From this system we can track client wait times which as of April 2021 were
averaging less than five minutes.
Eligibility staff are assigned to cover the phone lines during business hours and with the
addition of the newly funded med only eligibly technicians to respond to the PHE end the
county plans to add additional staffing to the phone lines. The county will also explore the
temporary addition of an option to field questions about the eligibility review packets that
are received by clients.
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