A nonprofit that provides services through 11 mental health centers in Aurora announced Thursday that it is eliminating 111 jobs effective June 30, the result of federal and state budget reductions.<\/p>\n
Aurora Mental Health & Recovery said the positions being eliminated are mostly administrative and support service jobs.<\/p>\n
That includes 91 jobs currently held by AMHR employees. Four are clinical positions.<\/p>\n
The nonprofit also announced it is eliminating programs that no longer have sustainable funding, including behavioral health services at its Mrachek House; the youth leadership academy, adult education and victim assistance at the Cultural Development & Wellness Center; and the Aurora Sustained program within its forensic services offerings. <\/p>\n
The latter, started in 2021 as a partnership between the state, is \u201can entry point for individuals in custody, pre-bail bond hearing, and throughout the court process.\u201d <\/p>\n
Going forward, the group said it hopes to continue providing services in partnership with the Aurora Municipal Court.<\/p>\n
The nonprofit said the cuts stemmed from the combined impact from federal and state budget reducfttions, including a nearly 10% rate reduction for Medicaid reimbursement starting July 1.<\/p>\n
The cuts means about $6.5 million in revenue reductions, along with a $7.2 million Medicaid \u201creconciliation payment\u201d required by the state. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe simply cannot absorb a $13 million-plus reduction to our bottom line and a future predicted on a break-even payment model without making significant changes to our expenses, including staffing,\u201d the nonprofit said, adding Colorado\u2019s safety net behavioral health system \u201ccurrently rests on an unstable funding model.\u201d <\/p>\n
The group said it is instituting mandatory five-consecutive-day furloughs for managers, directors and AMHR\u2019s executive team, as well as eliminating two holidays. That will save $1.425 million and 22 positions, the group said.<\/p>\n
Aurora Mental Health & Recovery (AMHR) said its priority is to preserve core services in mental health and substance use.<\/p>\n
The biggest hit, the group indicated, is from the state-directed rate reduction, based on a payment formula designed by the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing for comprehensive safety net providers.<\/p>\n
Instead of modeling the formula after what the federal government uses, the state agency in charge of the Medicaid program came up with its own model that goes into effect for the first time July 1.<\/p>\n
The rate cuts are the \u201cprimary driver of these decisions,\u201d AMHR said, noting it met with state Medicaid leaders to challenge the assumptions used to make those cuts. Last week, AMHR also initiated a formal dispute with the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, but said those appeals have not resulted in a favorable change to the provider rate.<\/p>\n
Kara Johnson-Hufford of the Colorado Behavioral Health Council said in a statement Thursday that AMHR is one of Colorado\u2019s most capable and committed safety net providers \u2014 and an organization that by law can\u2019t turn anyone away, regardless of ability to pay.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that they have reached this point is not a reflection of their performance,\u201d she added. \u201cIt reflects a payment model that, as currently designed, is not fully aligned with the demands placed on comprehensive safety net providers.\u201d<\/p>\n
AMHR is not alone, she added. A March 2026 survey conducted by the council of its member organizations found 77% are operating either at break-even or at a loss. <\/p>\n
Sixty-two percent have reduced services or frozen hiring, and 62% report they are scaling back high-acuity programs, including crisis care, residential services and intensive outpatient programs, according to the survey.<\/p>\n
This shows the challenges of the HCPF model that Johnson-Hufford said caps provider payments at actual costs, eliminates any operating margin \u201cand requires providers to repay the difference between advance payments and audited costs on a 30-day timeline.\u201d Those payments total millions of dollars, she said, adding the model is not keeping pace with obligations.<\/p>\n
Johnson-Hufford expressed optimism that these issues will be examined by an interim committee during the summer. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A nonprofit that provides services through 11 mental health centers in Aurora announced Thursday that it is eliminating…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":934697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4317],"tags":[261397,105,261398,2576,218,12,45197,34328,16,15],"class_list":["post-934696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-aurora-mental-health-and-recovery","tag-health","tag-health-care-policy-and-financing","tag-medicaid","tag-mental-health","tag-news","tag-safety-net","tag-top-story","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=934696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/934697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=934696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=934696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=934696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}