According to a study by the National Survey of Children’s Health, nearly 20 percent of children under 18 years old have a special health care need. In Boulder County, 22,543  individuals between the ages of 0-25 are Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. These children and youth, as well as their families, are more likely to experience household food insufficiency, housing hardship and medical hardship than those families and children without special health care needs. At Colorado Community Health Alliance (CCHA), we are committed to reducing these disparities and improving the health and well-being of these children and their families by helping them build ongoing support for health care and well-being in their communities. 

CCHA is the regional organization that administers physical and behavioral health benefits and coordinates care for more than 265,000 Health First Colorado (Colorado’s Medicaid program) members in Boulder, Broomfield, Clear Creek, El Paso, Gilpin, Jefferson, Park and Teller counties.  

Our members who are “complex children” are those under the age of 21 with physical, behavioral, developmental, social and/or environmental challenges that increase their risk for poor health or lifestyle outcomes. These children have or are at an increased risk for chronic physical, developmental, behavioral or emotional conditions which may include asthma, sickle cell, epilepsy, anxiety, autism and learning disorders. 

CCHA is dedicated to developing and maintaining innovative collaborations with providers and community partners to reduce disparities, build community support and increase access to care for our complex child members and their families. CCHA utilizes a member-focused, family-engaged process for identifying needs and providing tailored resources. Our teams are experts in the regions members live and can provide resources that meet their specific needs.  

CCHA’s care coordinators connect complex children and their families with primary and specialty providers in their community and to additional skilled services like dental care, behavioral health services as well as physical services in the home such as private duty nursing, etc. Additionally, CCHA engages school professionals, legal support, county support, primary care and specialists for collaboration and to provide connections to resources for housing, finances, transportation and food.  

For example, CCHA recently convened a team of 23 professionals from the county department of human services, guardian ad litem’s office, state officials, the local hospital, school district, case management agencies and behavioral health providers to obtain services for a member, including legal advocacy, supervision, transportation, waivers, behavioral health, educational and residential services. CCHA successfully supported the team in setting up these services to best meet the member’s physical and behavioral needs while assuring professionals were coordinated and focused on implementing resources in a timely manner. CCHA made sure the member’s guardians understood system processes and could advocate for their needs. 

In another instance, CCHA provided care coordination support for complex behavioral health and physical health conditions for a member that required CCHA and the member’s parents to convene a team consisting of specialists, the case management agency, physical health providers, behavioral health providers, state officials, primary care providers and the regional center. The team secured resources for the member, including massage therapy, medical equipment, updated neurological evaluations and services, complex medication prescriptions, advocacy support, physical therapy, transition of care support, skilled nursing services, and genetic testing. These resources greatly improved the member’s ability to learn, grow and heal through additional evaluations, services and connections to care in their community.

These collaborative efforts, along with our commitment to bringing a member’s community alongside them, help assure that everyone is doing their part to meet the member’s needs in a timely and thoughtful way. To learn more about CCHA and our commitment to supporting children and youth with special health care needs in Boulder and beyond, please visit CCHAcares.com. 

Sarah Winfrey, LPC, is a clinical and program supervisor with Colorado Community Health Alliance. She has more than 17 years of experience working with children, youth and their families.