{"id":38062,"date":"2025-07-04T12:36:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T12:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/38062\/"},"modified":"2025-07-04T12:36:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T12:36:09","slug":"colorado-clinicians-react-with-shock-and-sadness-to-rate-changes-for-mental-health-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/38062\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado clinicians react with shock and sadness to rate changes for mental health care"},"content":{"rendered":"

This Spring, Michelle Lefco-Rockey, the owner of Creekside Collaborative Therapy in Greenwood Village, said she that got word from the state agency in charge of Medicaid about a possible change in rates. Then, this week, she got confirmation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt kind of was a shock on Friday morning to wake up, whatever time I woke up and checked my emails, and that was the first email that I saw.\u201d<\/p>\n

The email notification, from one of the companies that manages regional Medicaid reimbursement, said that elevated payments for services like therapy, would decrease, with some exceptions.<\/p>\n

Statewide, Colorado\u2019s Behavioral Health Agency has currently approved over 200 Essential Safety Network Providers, a status that allows for enhanced payments for services including outpatient therapy and treatment for substance use. This designation followed a 2022 law designed to improve care in the state<\/a>; approvals began in January 2024.<\/p>\n

As of October 1, rates will drop anywhere from 20 to 34%.<\/p>\n

Get top headlines and KUNC reporting directly to your mailbox each week when you subscribe to In The NoCo.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leftco-Rockey explains why this change is shocking: her organization put a lot of time and money into getting the ESNP certification that made them eligible for higher payments.<\/p>\n

In order to qualify, her staff took on additional administrative hours. Lefco-Rocky expanded her Greenwood Village practice beyond clinical work to assist with housing, food and medical care.<\/p>\n

Around half of Creekside\u2019s clients are insured under Medicaid.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re still going to provide them those resources. We just might not be able to be as hands on because\u2026we have to pay our staff to be able to provide that case management and we won\u2019t have that enhanced funding,\u201d said Lefco-Rockey.<\/p>\n

In an email, a spokesperson for Colorado Access, one of the companies responsible for reimbursement, responded to KUNC\u2019s questions about the reason for the change by saying that their goal is to \u201ccontrol costs while maximizing access to care,\u201d and noted that rates for services including opioid treatment and inpatient services will not change.<\/p>\n

To become a safety net provider, clinics must accept most clients who walk through their door; they are prohibited from refusing care for \u2018priority populations\u2019 including unhoused people and those without insurance.<\/p>\n

Andrew Rose is the director of Boulder Emotional Wellness who works with children. He is also the leader of, COMBINE, an association of clinicians and clinics.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m sad about it, and it feels unnecessary,\u201d Rose said of the rate changes, which he believes could have been avoided with more financial transparency from health care organizations.<\/p>\n

Rose believes that reduced reimbursement rates will lead to practices leaving the pool of safety net clinics in order to take on more private pay clients.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, in play therapy I have one clinic I can refer to in Boulder County and they’re full. My interns are full,\u201d said Rose. \u201cSo, having less providers participate, yes, that means there’s less access.\u201d\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

In an emailed statement, BHA Commissioner Danette Smith said the agency is aware of provider concerns and also of fiscal constraints. \u201cWe are asking our partners for patience and partnership as we work to find a path forward,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This Spring, Michelle Lefco-Rockey, the owner of Creekside Collaborative Therapy in Greenwood Village, said she that got word…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":38063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[210,1141,1142,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-38062","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-health-care","10":"tag-healthcare","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114794999613905977","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}