State budget committee approves Medicaid reimbursement increase for autism care providers in Colorado

For several months Colorado has seen roughly a dozen providers of critical child autism therapy close their doors, claiming Medicaid reimbursement by the state was not enough to continue operating.

"The whole landscape could shift because of this," said JJ Tomash, Executive Director of Behavior Span in Aurora.

His center is among a limited number of organizations using applied behavior analysis, or ABA, therapy to help kids with Autism learn skills they may not develop on their own.

When his counterparts started leaving Colorado, he started sounding the alarm about an impending care crisis.

"All these companies were leaving we said we need a sustainable rate that's going to keep business open and staying in Colorado and we need it now," Tomash said.

Families who lost services were forced onto waitlists, including parent Karmen Peak.

"Just to see kiddos not having access to that it is, it's just like, it cannot be happening," Peak said after her provider, Hopebridge the largest in the state closed in July.

Others like Heidi and Christopher Seth say ABA changed their lives.

"It's been night and day," Christopher Seth said.

After a Medicaid review board determined the reimbursement for providers in Colorado was roughly 20% below benchmark--or the average of 10 similar states, families and providers urged the officials with the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing to request an emergency increase through the joint budget committee.

State Senator Barbara Kirkmeyer who sits on that committee said that never happened.

"We all said there was an identified crisis yet here we have the administration doesn't bring it forward," Kirkmeyer said.

Instead, committee members would bring forward their own proposal and agreed unanimously to increase the provider rates, immediately.

Kirkmeyer says ultimately, they were able to take a little more than $5 million that had already been appropriated for the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing that they weren't going to use and put that toward the provider rate increase. Those dollars she says are matched by federal Medicaid dollars putting the total increase just over $10 million.

"It's important these kids can't wait," Kirkmeyer added.

Tomash was in the room for that hearing and says he almost leaped out of his chair, "It's kind of cheesy but I kind of walked away with a little bit brighter future for Colorado."

While the joint budget committee approved the proposal for the increase, it will still need to be approved by the General Assembly.