Care coordination agencies only: Optional call on Dec. 8

Only if your agency holds a care coordination contract with WWC, please save the date for an optional call on Dec. 8, 10:30-11:30 a.m. This will be a conference call only. To join, call 1-877-820-7831 and enter passcode: 335241# (Press # after the passcode).

Do you have particular topic you would like to discuss? Are you facing a particular struggle with implementing your care coordination contract? We want to break down those potential barriers and ensure you are as successful as we know you can be. Comment below with topics you would like to see covered.

CDPHE policy for providing information about Medicaid or Connect for Health Colorado

Please see the memo creating a standard policy that all CDPHE contractors that provide direct clinical services provide Colorado Medicaid and Connect for Health Colorado information to clients presenting for services at their agencies.​ This policy closely aligns with the policy WWC implemented this year regarding referral to Connect for Health Colorado for assessment of eligibility or subsidized Marketplace health insurance coverage (See page 4 of the Eligibility Section of the Toolkit for more information). 

WWC will begin implementing this new policy with future revisions of the Toolkit and in future contracts for Clinical Services, Care Coordination and WISEWOMAN.

​Please contact myself, Emily Kinsella with any questions.

eCaST User's Group on Dec. 2

All eCaST users are invited to participate in the Dec. 2 webinar from 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. The WWC team will gather feedback, questions, and share more information on the following topics: 

Does your agency have a new WWC clinical provider? Are you a new WWC clinical provider?

Welcome to WWC! As a new WWC clinical provider, you will want to become familiar with the Provider Resources web page and Part 4: Clinical Services of the WWC toolkit. These sections of the toolkit include the clinical policies and guidelines that both WWC Clinical Services and WWC Care Coordination programs must follow. 

Updates to caution flags in eCaST

Several updates to the "Pending screenings not complete" caution flag have been made in eCaST aimed to streamline data entry and review processes. Please let us know if you have questions or concerns with any of these changes. Changes include: 

November bill run is complete!

Your November 2015 grant activity statement is now available. Please run your grant activity statement from eCaST using November 1-30 as your date parameters. Make sure to select fiscal year 2016. When choosing the contract type, select "WWC" for WWC clinical services or "CCGP" for the care coordination grant program

Please contact either Nick Roth or Marina Milzer for any questions regarding viewing your reports. Nicholas.Roth@state.co.us or Marina.Milzer@state.co.us

If you have questions about your bill or spending in general, contact your WWC program coordinator, either Flora Martinez, Ivy Hontz, or Kris McCracken.

High risk groups smoke twice as much

American adults who are uninsured or on Medicaid smoke at rates more than double those for adults with private health insurance or Medicare, according to a study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in today’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).

Data from the 2014 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) show that 27.9 percent of uninsured adults and 29.1 percent of Medicaid recipients currently smoke. By contrast, 12.9 percent of adults with private insurance and 12.5 percent of those on Medicare currently smoke.

The study reported that the prevalence of cigarette smoking among U.S. adults declined from 20.9 percent to 16.8 percent from 2005 to 2014, including a full percentage-point decline between 2013 and 2014 alone. The considerable drop in the overall adult smoking rate over time shows marked progress toward achieving the Healthy People 2020 goal of reducing the cigarette smoking rate to 12 percent or lower. Another major finding was that the average number of cigarettes smoked per day among daily smokers declined from 16.7 in 2005 to 13.8 in 2014 — driven by declines in the proportion of daily smokers who smoked 20 or more cigarettes per day.

In 2014, prevalence of cigarette smoking was higher among these groups:

• Males (18.8 percent vs. 14.8 percent for females)
• Adults ages 25-44 years (20.0 percent)
• Multiracial (27.9 percent) or American Indian/Alaska Natives (29.2 percent)
• People with a General Education Development certificate (43.0 percent)
• People who live below the federal poverty level (26.3 percent)
• People who live in the Midwest (20.7 percent)
• People who have a disability/limitation (21.9 percent)
• People who are lesbian, gay, or bisexual (23.9 percent)

For more information about cigarette smoking and tools to quit, visit www.cdc.gov/tobacco.

Remember: Check insurance status before each procedure!

Recently we have had a few agencies report to us that clients seen through WWC Clinical Services last fiscal year (June 30, 2014 to June 29, 2015) were actually billed to and paid by Medicaid. While agencies are not required to switch funding from WWC Clinical Services to Medicaid for services rendered between the client’s enrollment notification date and back-dated enrollment date, it is not allowable to charge the same service to two funders (i.e., WWC Clinical Services and Medicaid). When another funder has been charged for services rendered in a previous fiscal year, agencies must refund CDPHE funds paid for these services by sending CDPHE a check. If your agency identifies a change in funding source for services performed during the active fiscal year, simply update the funding source for affected procedures and the funds will be automatically reversed on your next grant activity statement.

While we know this may be inevitable for services performed last fiscal year, below are some best practices to help you avoid this in the future. We will remind agencies during our major mid-year and end-of-year data entry pushes. 

• Follow the new policy that insurance status be assessed before each clinical service is provided with WWC funds. 
• Verify regularly that WWC Clinical Services clients have not retroactively been billed to Medicaid. 

Please contact Emily, Marina or your WWC program coordinator with any questions.

Reminder: Complete your progress report by Nov. 16!

You have less than a week to complete your agency's progress report. If you have questions, don't hesitate to contact your program coordinator as soon as possible! We are here to help you and want the progress report to be a useful tool.

Can't click on the link above to complete your progress report? Here is the link to copy and paste in your web browser: https://www.colorado.gov/cdphe/wwc-progress-report.

Do you have patients with Colorado HealthOp?

Colorado HealthOp will no longer be offering insurance coverage after 12/31/15. Colorado HealthOp is continuing coverage until 12/31/15. Patients should be encouraged to start the enrollment process into a new healthcare plan now and complete enrollment prior to 12/15/15 in order to ensure coverage on 1/1/16. More information can be found on their website.

Webinar: Breast Cancer. Genetic Counseling. A Firsthand Account

Date and time: Wed, Nov 11, 2015 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM MST

"I was diagnosed in June 2013 when my son was 18 months old. After I stopped breastfeeding one of my breasts did not go down, which is abnormal, so I got my mammogram. I was devastated when I got my diagnosis of breast cancer." 

Join the Office of Minority Health Resource Center and Dr. Lori Wilson, Howard University Hospital & College of Medicine Surgical Oncologist and Surgery Residency Program Director, for a presentation on her personal experience with cancer. PPEs will learn about Dr. Wilson's unique firsthand experience with cancer as an oncologist and a patient. Nicole Thompson, genetic counselor, will provide lessons on genetic counseling. Both will be available to address all questions.

Register now.

Updated BCCP Medicaid step list

We notified you last week with the new Presumptive Eligibility (PE) telephone number for BCCP Medicaid. The step list is now updated to reflect the new phone number. It can be located under the "Treatment" heading on the WWC provider resources web page.

Webinar recording: CCADV's Intimate Partner Violence

Family Planning and Colorado Coalition Against Dometic Violence (CCADV) have graciously agreed to share Amy Pohl's archived version of CCADV's Intimate Partner Violence webinar with WWC staff.

Amy Pohl wanted staff to know that they can access the Batterer 101 Training on CCADV’s Online Learning Center for FREE for 90 Days (until December 31) if they would like some follow up training on the issue of domestic violence (DV). Email Amy Pohl with your interest, and she will follow up with you directly.

Amy provided this description of the course “Understanding Batterers:”

Who are batterers? Why do batterers hurt others? Does alcohol cause physical violence? This course explores the reasons why batterers hurt the important people in their lives, lists the types of battering most often used against victims, dissects the myths and facts about battering, and much more. This course will enhance the participant’s skills around safety planning and advocacy with victims/survivors of domestic violence by increasing the participant’s knowledge and understanding of batterers as well as Colorado requirements for offender management. Course review provided by Cheryl Davis, Program Manager of the Colorado Domestic Violence Offender Management Board (DVOMB). Time Frame: approx. 1.5 hours.

Contact information:

Amy Pohl
Communications and Membership Director
Colorado Coalition Against Domestic Violence
1120 Lincoln Street, Suite 900
Denver, CO  80203
(303) 962-0936 ▪ Tollfree: (888) 778-7091 x824
www.ccadv.org ▪ apohl@ccadv.org

ASCCP Comprehensive Colposcopy in Tampa, Florida

Date:  January 20-23, 2016

Location:  Hilton Tampa Downtown
Tampa, FL

Are you a beginning or intermediate colposcopist? Do you need an update on the cervical cancer screening guidelines? Then this course is for you!

This course will include:

• 2012 Cervical Cancer Screening Guidelines 
• Updated Consensus Guidelines for Managing Abnormal Cervical Cancer Screening Tests and Cancer Precursor. 
• New concepts about HPV screening and triage, treatment methods, and HPV epidemiology. 
• Hands-on workshops to apply what you have learned 

Upon completion of this course you can earn 22.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

ASCCP Members receive discounted registration rates.
Not an ASCCP member? Join or renew today.

Register today.

New progress report is ready for you!

The new progress report is available for your submissions! Reports are due through the Survey Monkey tool by end of business on November 16. You will be reporting on clinical services and/or care coordination contracts. To assist in completing all sections, a training video and worksheet were developed available for download here: https://www.colorado.gov/cdphe/wwc-progress-report. 

This report submission will cover: June 30, 2015 through October 31, 2015

The format is much different than you are used to with WWC. Our goal through this change was to empower your agency to take ownership of your award and streamline requests from your agency for additional information throughout the fiscal year. Please use this time to thoughtfully communicate your struggles and successes. 

If you have not already done so, please coordinate with your agency staff to ensure only one report is submitted per agency. 

If you have questions or concerns, contact your program coordinator as soon as possible!

Funding opportunity: WWC request for applications (RFA) now open!

The Women’s Wellness Connection (WWC) program is currently accepting Request for Applications (RFA) for both clinical services and care coordination funds as part of an Open RFA. The intention is to increase the number of women screened for breast and cervical cancer in the state of Colorado. For more information about the two funding opportunities, please see below:

Clinical Services Program

This program provides financial support to clinical services organizations to provide breast and cervical cancer screening and diagnostic services for uninsured and under insured women who meet WWC’s age, income, and lawful presence criteria as outline in the WWC Provider Toolkit.

Care Coordination Grant Program

This program provides financial support to clinical services organizations to increase care coordination related to breast and cervical cancer screening for insured women who otherwise meet WWC’s age, income, and lawful presence criteria as outlined in the WWC Provider Toolkit.


Applications are due by November 16, 2015 and March 14, 2016
Application documents and information can be found at www.colorado.gov/cdphe/wwc-funding. 

Please forward this information to any organization that might qualify and be interested in this funding. If you have any questions, please email them to the WWC program staff at cdphe_wwc@state.co.us.