Colorado House
Bill 1116
Known as “house bill” this legislation first approved in 1999 provides Colorado families access to residential treatment services for their child without requiring a dependency and neglect action, when there is no child abuse or neglect. Children must have a mental illness diagnosis and be determined eligible for RTC placement by county mental health agencies if they aren’t currently covered by Medicaid. If children are covered by Medicaid they must be evaluated by the local Mental Health Assessment Services Agency.
The act also provides funding, applied on a sliding scale, to reduce the immense cost of private, non-public RTC services in Colorado. Families also can apply for Social Security Disability and Medicaid (if child is not already Medicaid eligible) payments to help mitigate the cost, but the family will still be required to pay a significant portion of the RTC monthly bill. Recently the bill was funded to include transition services to aid families in transitioning their children from the treatment center back into their home and/or community setting. This bill is specific to Colorado and only covers Colorado residents and private Colorado RTC institutions.
Although the process may be a bit cumbersome and bureaucratic, the financial benefits to families are significant. You will be asked to provide extensive school, medical and treatment records for your child. The items you will need are listed in the parent’s guide link below. If you haven’t started to collect and organize these records, you should make this a priority.
For more information on HB116 you can visit the website at: www.cdhs.state.co.us/dmh/CMHTA.htm
For a parent’s guide to Colorado’s Children’s Mental Health Treatment Act you can download the guide at: www.cdhs.state.co.us/dmh/PDFs/cmhta_handbook_rev2002.pdf
