2023 Colorado Revised Statutes › Title 27 - BEHAVIORAL HEALTH (§§ 27-1-101 — 27-94-107) › BEHAVIORAL HEALTH (§§ 27-50-101 — 27-64.5-102) › Article 60 - GENERAL PROVISIONS (§§ 27-60-100.3 — 27-60-506) › Part 3 - BEHAVIORAL HEALTH-CARE PROVIDER WORKFORCE (§§ 27-60-301 — 27-60-305) › Section 27-60-303 - [Effective 8/7/2024] Behavioral health administration - additional duties - collaboration with other agencies

(1)
The BHA shall:
(a)
In collaboration with the department of regulatory agencies, establish workforce standards that strengthen the behavioral health-care provider workforce, including telehealth providers, and increase opportunities for peer support professionals and behavioral health aides. If practicable, the standards must be aligned with national standards and address health equity; rural, frontier, and urban needs; pediatric care; specialty care; and care for individuals with complex needs.
(b)
Provide and fund opportunities for training and certification with state, national, and international credentialing entities;
(c)
Work with other state agencies to reduce the administrative burden across agencies to ensure behavioral health-care providers have additional time to focus on patient care;
(d)
Collaborate with the department of public health and environment to:
(I)
Further develop current assessments that exist in rules promulgated by the state board of health pursuant to section
25-1.5-404 (1)(a)
that measure community-level shortages of behavioral health-care providers who provide services for children, youth, and adults; and
(II)
Expand the Colorado health service corps created in section
25-1.5-503
to improve access to behavioral health-care services in communities where workforce shortages exist by providing loans to behavioral health providers to practice in these communities and to work with priority populations; and
(e)
Collaborate with the department of higher education, the state board for community colleges and occupational education created in section
23-60-104
, the department of education, the state work force development council created in section
24-46.3-101
, the department of labor and employment, and the department of health care policy and financing, as applicable, to:
(I)
Update career pathways to align with postsecondary degree programs, work-based learning programs, and apprenticeship programs to ensure that behavioral health education and training are responsive to the needs of the labor market in order to provide behavioral health-care services across the care continuum for children, youth, and adults;
(II)
Prepare students and current workers in the behavioral health-care field with the skills and credentials they need for jobs and careers, including through the use of the department of labor and employment's work-based learning programs, to assist with identifying industry-relevant skills, certifications, and credentials in the behavioral health-care field;
(III)
Secure federal funding that supports training, education, and apprenticeships in behavioral health-care-related occupations;
(IV)
Enhance and expand the direct-care workforce to provide behavioral health-care services for children, youth, and adults enrolled in programs administered by the department of health care policy and financing;
(V)
Address licensing and credentialing portability issues that affect the ability of children, youth, and adults to access behavioral health-care services;
(VI)
Explore the requirements that must be met for certified addiction specialist and certified addiction technician classes to be taught remotely; and
(VII)
Explore the feasibility of remote supervisory observation for each behavioral health-care field.
(1.5)
(a)
The BHA shall create the agricultural and rural community behavioral health program and identify a specific BHA staff person to serve as a liaison between the BHA, department of agriculture, behavioral health-care providers, rural community leaders, agricultural communities, and nonprofit organizations that serve agricultural communities. The agricultural and rural community behavioral health program shall:
(I)
Engage in statewide community outreach to educate communities on the behavioral health issues farmers, ranchers, other agricultural industry workers, their families, and rural communities experience;
(II)
Establish interdepartmental relationships; and
(III)
Develop an understanding of and address the root causes of behavioral health issues in the agricultural industry and in rural communities.
(b)
The agricultural and rural community behavioral health program shall coordinate training for behavioral health providers to serve farmers, ranchers, other agricultural industry workers, and their families experiencing behavioral health issues.
(c)
The agricultural and rural community behavioral health program staff liaison shall serve on the agricultural behavioral health community of practice work group, created in section 35-1-121, and provide support to the work group as needed.
(d)
The BHA and the department of agricultural shall enter into an interagency agreement to share data collected in the course of understanding and addressing the behavioral health-care issues in the agricultural industry and in rural communities. The interagency agreement must state that the data shared will be aggregated and anonymized, and data sharing must be in compliance with state and federal data privacy laws.
(2)
(a)
The BHA shall use the learning management system to implement a comprehensive, collaborative, and cross-system training certification and training curriculum of evidence-based treatment and evidence-based criminal justice approaches for behavioral health-care providers working in programs to obtain a criminal justice treatment provider endorsement. The curriculum shall include:
(I)
Training to ensure cross-system alignment around a proactive, coordinated, and prerelease care plan for individuals who are incarcerated in jail, prison, and community corrections facilities;
(II)
Specialized training and skills-building in cultural competencies and otherwise culturally responsive approaches to supervision and treatment of individuals who are or were in the criminal justice system; and
(III)
Specific strategies to address the rights and needs of crime victims and the behavioral health-care provider's role in preventing harm or increasing risk to identified crime victims.
(b)
For the purposes of subsection (2)(a) of this section, the BHA shall add relevant content to the curriculum developed in the learning management system and shall ensure that the learning management system is accessible and promoted to all criminal justice agencies in the state.
(3)
The BHA shall develop strategies to strengthen Colorado's current behavioral health-care provider workforce. The strategies shall include:
(a)
Using the learning management system to increase the capacity of providers to support a culturally competent behavioral health-care provider workforce to provide services for children, youth, and adults. This includes building from the standards and statewide core competencies developed pursuant to the learning management system and offering ongoing professional development opportunities to train behavioral health-care providers to treat complex needs across the continuum of care. If practicable, the standards shall align with national standards and shall address health equity; rural, frontier, and urban needs; pediatric care; specialty care; and care for persons with complex needs. The BHA shall use the learning management system to create course work to increase and improve competencies in behavioral health care.
(b)
Developing methods supported by the BHA, the department of regulatory agencies, the department of public health and environment, the department of health care policy and financing, and the department of labor and employment for behavioral health providers to address burnout; training; supervision, including the exploration of opportunities for behavioral health providers to be reimbursed for providing clinical supervision; and career pathways for professional behavioral health-care providers.
Amended by 2024 Ch. 469,§ 1, eff. 8/7/2024.
Added by 2022 Ch. 452, § 2, eff. 7/1/2022.
2024 Ch. 469, was passed without a safety clause. See Colo. Const. art. V, § 1(3).
This section is set out more than once due to postponed, multiple, or conflicting amendments.