Under the act, a pharmacist is eligible for reimbursement under the medical assistance program for certain medically necessary pharmacist services, as described in the act, that are not duplicative of other pharmacist services or programs reimbursed under the medical assistance program. The department of health care policy and financing shall include services reimbursed pursuant to the act in the review of provider rates for the medical assistance program.Further, the act allows a pharmacist or pharmacy that dispenses or administers extended-release injectable medications for the treatment of mental health or substance use disorders to seek reimbursement for those medications under the medical assistance program as either a pharmacy benefit or as a medical benefit.The act requires that costs associated with services provided by clinical pharmacists through a federally qualified health center (FQHC) be considered allowable costs for the purpose of the FQHC's cost report and be included in the calculation of the reimbursement rate for a patient visit at an FQHC.The act appropriates $372,554 to the department of health care policy and financing from the general fund and the healthcare affordability and sustainability fee cash fund to implement the act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
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The act eliminates the advisory committee that advised the state department of human services on the licensing of child care facilities prior to the creation of the early childhood leadership commission.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
Beginning with the 2021-22 state fiscal year, the act directs the Colorado opportunity scholarship initiative (COSI) advisory board to allocate to public institutions of higher education (institution) an amount appropriated to the COSI fund from money received pursuant to the federal "American Rescue Plan Act of 2021" (ARPA). To receive a distribution of its allocation, an institution must submit a student assistance plan (plan) explaining how the institution will use the money to provide financial assistance and support services to students who have some postsecondary credits but stopped attending before obtaining a credential, and first-time students who were admitted to an institution for the 2019-20 or 2020-21 academic year but did not enroll for the 2020-21 academic year. The provision of financial assistance and support services is designed to decrease student debt and increase student enrollment, retention, and completion of credentials. The COSI advisory board must review each plan based on specified criteria and may require changes to a plan before approving a distribution. At the end of the fiscal year, each institution must submit a report of how it used the money and the results achieved. The COSI director must include the information in the report that the board annually prepares for the joint budget committee and the education committees of the general assembly. The program to distribute the federal money in this manner is repealed July 1, 2026.The act creates the student aid applications completion grant program (grant program) in COSI. A school district, a charter school, or a board of cooperative services that operates a high school (local education provider) that chooses to apply for a grant must require the students enrolled by the local education provider to complete the free application for federal student aid and the Colorado application for state financial aid (student aid applications) before high school graduation, unless waived under conditions specified by the local education provider. The act specifies the contents of the application and requires the COSI board to review the applications and approve the grant awards to be paid from an amount appropriated to the COSI fund in the act. Each grant recipient must submit an annual report concerning use of the grant money, and the COSI board must include a summary report in the annual report that the COSI board submits to the education committees of the general assembly. The grant program is repealed July 1, 2026.The act creates the Colorado re-engaged (CORE) initiative within the department of higher education (department) to award an associate degree to an eligible student who enrolls in a baccalaureate degree program at a 4-year institution and earns at least 70 credit hours, but stops attending before attaining the degree. The act specifies the role of the department in implementing the CORE initiative and the role of an institution that chooses to participate in the CORE initiative. Each institution that chooses to participate in the CORE initiative must annually submit to the department a report concerning implementation of the CORE initiative. The department must review and compile the reports and submit a summary report to the education committees of the general assembly.The act repeals the requirement that a community college or a local district college must receive approval from the Colorado commission on higher education (commission) to offer a bachelor of applied science degree program. A community college or a local district college that seeks to offer a bachelor of applied science degree program must apply to its governing board, and the governing board may approve the program based on specified criteria. If a governing board approves a bachelor of applied science degree program, the governing board must notify the commission. The act repeals the criteria the commission must apply in approving a bachelor's degree program for a local district college.The act directs the commission to convene a task force to:Review the role and mission and service area of each state institution of higher education, local district college, and area technical college; Review the interaction between the institutions, the local district colleges, the area technical colleges, and the state work force development council in supporting and improving workforce development; and Review and make recommendations concerning uses of ARPA money for assistance for populations disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 public health emergency that address or mitigate the impacts of the public health emergency on educational disparities. The act describes the membership of the task force and the issues the task force must address. By December 15, 2021, the task force must submit a report of findings and recommendations to the commission and to the education committees of the general assembly. The department must post the report on the department's website.The act creates within the department a working group appointed by the governor to recommend strategies for increasing the student completion rate for the student aid applications. The working group must submit its recommendations to the commission, the state board of education, the joint budget committee, and the education committees of the general assembly by January 15, 2022.The act allows the governing board of an institution to classify a qualified person as an in-state student, for tuition purposes only, if the qualified person moves to the state to accept employment, the employer is paying the qualified person's tuition, and the qualified person demonstrates the intent to establish permanent domicile in the state. The qualified person is not eligible to receive the state stipend for the first year of enrollment.For the 2021-22 fiscal year the following amounts are appropriated from money the state received from the federal coronavirus state fiscal recovery fund:$49,000,000 to COSI for distribution to institutions to implement their student assistance plans; $1,500,000 to COSI for the student aid applications completion grant program; and $1,000,000 to the department to implement the CORE initiative and the associate degree completion program.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act creates the "support foster families" license plate for vehicles. A person is qualified to be issued the plate if the person makes a donation to a designated nonprofit organization that meets the act's qualifications. In addition to the normal fees for a license plate, a person must pay 2 additional one-time fees for the issuance of the plate. The fees are credited to the highway users tax fund and the licensing services cash fund, respectively.The act appropriates $14,145 for use by the division of motor vehicles to implement the act.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The state controller is required to prescribe a unified system of accounts and prepare financial statements based on systems set forth by the governmental accounting standards board (GASB). Statement number 87 by GASB, which affects state and local government fiscal years after June 15, 2021, requires that a contract that transfers ownership of an asset be accounted for and reported as a financed purchase or sale of an asset, regardless of whether the contract is labeled by the parties as a lease.Effective July 1, 2021, the act replaces the term "lease-purchase agreement", and, as necessary to effectuate the purpose of the act, substantially similar terms, with "financed purchase of an asset or certificate of participation agreement", and, as necessary to effectuate the intent of the act, substantially similar terms, throughout the Colorado Revised Statutes to clarify that, in accordance with GASB requirements, any such state or local public contract is to be accounted for and reported by the state controller as a financed purchase or sale of the underlying asset rather than as a lease.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act appropriates $15,000,000 from the workers, employers, and workforce centers cash fund and the federal coronavirus recovery fund to the department of higher education for the Colorado opportunity scholarship initiative's displaced workers grant.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The electronic recording technology board (board), which was created in 2016, makes grants to counties to establish, maintain, improve, or replace their electronic filing systems. These grants are from surcharges collected by county clerk and recorders and transmitted to the state for deposit in the electronic recording technology fund. The act makes the following changes related to the board:Delays the repeal and sunset review of the board by 4 years so that it will take place just over 10 years after the board's creation; Extends the surcharge that is collected by county clerk and recorders and transmitted to the board; Extends the board's annual reporting requirement about its grants for 4 more years and requires an additional 5-year report about the overall success of the program; Permits the board to make grants to a county to improve the security of its general information technology systems, if the improvement is necessary to improve the security of the county's electronic filing system; and Specifies that the board may approve a grant application to establish, maintain, improve, or replace an electronic filing system, notwithstanding that a portion of the grant will be used to enable the system to receive, store, manage, and provide online access to public documents that are maintained by the county clerk and recorder but that are not related to real property.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act appropriates $3,000,000 to the department of human services (department) in order to seek a 50% match from the federal government for the Colorado employment first program within the supplemental nutrition assistance program. The act requires the department to direct county departments and any third-party partners to prioritize any state or federal money received to fund employment support and job retention services and to support work-based learning opportunities for Colorado employment first participants. Any remaining money may be used to initiate and enhance current and additional state- or county-initiated third-party partnerships.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The department of personnel (department) is required to contract for the services of a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) for group benefit plans provided pursuant to the "State Employees Group Benefits Act" (state employee group benefits plans) and to procure a technology platform with the required capabilities for conducting a PBM reverse auction and the related services of a technology platform operator.The department is required to repurpose the technology platform used to conduct the reverse auction over the duration of the PBM services contract to perform reviews of all invoiced PBM prescription drug claims, and to identify all deviations from the specific terms of the PBM services contract. The department is required to reconcile the electronically adjudicated pharmacy claims with PBM invoices to ensure that state payments do not exceed the terms specified in any PBM services contract.Each PBM reverse auction is required to be completed and the PBM services contract awarded to the winning PBM within a specified timeline.The department may perform a market check for providing PBM services during the term of the current PBM services contract to ensure continuing competitiveness of incumbent prescription drug pricing over the life of a PBM services contract.To ensure that the department does not incur additional expenditures associated with the requirements of the act, the department is required to implement a no-pay option that obligates the winning PBM to pay the cost of the technology platform and related technology platform operator services by assessing a per-prescription fee and requiring the PBM to pay these fees to the technology operator over the duration of the PBM services contract.The act allows other health plans to use the processes and procedures established in the act individually, collectively, or as a joint purchasing group with the state employee group benefits plans.After completion of the first state employees group benefits plans PBM reverse auction, self-funded private sector employer or multi-employer health plans have the option to participate in a joint purchasing pool with state employees for conduct of subsequent PBM reverse auctions.The state employees group benefits plans and any self-funded public or private sector health plans that opt to participate with the state employees group benefits plans in a joint PBM reverse auction purchasing pool shall retain full autonomy over determination of their respective prescription drug formularies and pharmacy benefit designs and shall not be required to adopt a common prescription drug formulary or common prescription pharmacy benefit design.Any PBM providing services to the department or a self-funded public or private sector employee health plan is required to provide the department and the plan access to complete pharmacy claims data necessary to conduct the reverse auction and carry out their administrative and management duties.The department may elect to vacate the outcome of a PBM reverse auction if the lowest cost bid is not less than the projected cost trend for the incumbent PBM contract as verified by the department.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)
The act requires the department of health care policy and financing (department) to develop, analyze, and enforce a demonstration of need for each new nursing facility provider seeking medicaid certification. The requirement does not apply to a nursing facility provider certified prior to June 30, 2021. The act allows the department to exempt nursing facilities with 5 or fewer medicaid beds from the current reimbursement methodology and instead require the facilities to be reimbursed at the statewide average rate.The act requires the medical services board to promulgate rules, no later than June 30, 2022, addressing the establishment of criteria to be used in determining a nursing facility provider's medicaid certification.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)