July 24, 2025 Minutes

Weld County Case Management Agency - Community Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes

Date: Thursday 7/24/2025
Time: 9:00am-11:00am
Facilitator: Angela Korthaus
Note Taker/Timekeeper: Cassie Bixler
Attendees: Dawn Simmons, Cathy Laws, Leticia Arguello, Brittany Logue
Not present: Victoria Moul and Regina Hunt

Agenda Items

09:00-09:02 Welcome & Introductions

Briefly confirm meeting agenda and expectations.

Notes:

  • First Quarterly meeting of Fiscal Year 2025-2026

09:03–09:07 CMA Updates

Review Power Point to discuss Updates: Staffing, Intake/Referrals, & Ongoing Case Management.

Notes: 

  • Staffing: 53 Full time Case Managers, 2 Part time Case Managers, 3 Program Specialists, 3 Case Aides, 8 Program Supervisors, 2 Program Managers, & 2 Billing Specialists.
  • Future: Process of hiring 1 Case Manager & 2 Program Specialists. Requested additional 5 Case Managers & 1 Supervisor position for 1/1/2026 (dependent on budget). All Case Managers will soon have work cell phones and will provide their number to members.
  • Intake/Referrals: April-276, May- 302, & June-280.
  • Discussion: Added 2 Case Managers to Intake Team to help manage incoming referrals. Expect number of referrals will steadily increase with the addition of CFC.
  • Ongoing Case Management: Non-IDD Case Managers (EBD, CMHS, BI, CIH waivers) team currently contains 18 case managers with an average caseload size of 93.
  • 2 new Case Mangers will complete training and receive case loads as of 8/1/2025. 4 new Case Managers in training and expected to receive caseloads 9/1/25.
  • Expect caseload size will be reduced to an average of 68 when trainings are completed.
  • Discussion: One Case Manager is currently covering cases for two Case Managers that are out on leave. It’s expected when those Case Managers return then the case manager will begin covering for a third CM who will be out on leave. The CMA has worked hard to ensure all individuals served have access to a case manager during overlapping leaves.
  • Follow up from last CAC: CMA has successfully figured out an effective way to notify all individuals on a caseload via mail if there is a temporary or new Case Manager assigned. This letter sent by mail includes the contact information for the case manager assigned so individuals served know how to reach out if/when they need to. Team believes this has cut down on confusion for our members.
  • IDD Case Managers (DD and SLS waivers) team currently contains 9 Case Managers with an average caseload size of 61.
  • Children’s Case Managers (CwCHN, CES, CHRP waivers) team currently contains 9 case managers with an average caseload size of 62.
  • Other Programs Case Managers (FSSP and State SLS) team currently contains 2 Case Managers with an average caseload size of 103.

09:07–09:44 Review of CMA Policy and Procedure

Review the following policies and discuss concerns and change recommendations: Preservation of Rights, Policy and Procedure Framework, Person Centered Case Management, Overcoming Geographic Barriers, OHCDS Policy and Procedure, Non-DSA Member Case Management Compliance, Nondiscrimination Policy, No Physical or Programmatic Barriers.

Individual Review Notes:

  • Preservation of Rights- No Comments. Agree with formatting concerns.
  • Policy and Procedure Framework- No Comments. Agree with formatting concerns.
  • OHCDS Policy and Procedure- Comments. Agree with formatting concerns.
  • Comment 1 (Page 2, 1st Line)- Concern this section will need to be revised with addition of CFC and change from CHCBS to CwCHN. Further concern there will need to be a way to reflect the transition period for waivers while CHCBS is phased out.
  • Comment 2 (Page 3, Point 3)- Formatting concern “must be” should not be underlined.
  • Comment 3 & 4 (Page 4, Bullet 6)- Concern BAA should be spelled out.
  • Comment 5 (Page 5, Paragraph 1)- Concern paragraph should not be italicized.
  • Comment 6 (Page 6, Bullet 1)- Concern STID should be spelled out to State ID.
  • Comment 7 (Page 6, Bullet 7)- Concern PAR should be spelled out.
  • Comment 8 (Page 6, Bullet 8)- Concern AP should be spelled out.
  • Comment 9 (Page 6, Bullet 14)- Concern GL should be spelled out.
  • Comment 10 (Page 7, Bullets 8 & 9)- Concern Formatting differs from previous sections and all points) including Assistive technology recommendations line) should be formatted as bullets.
  • Comment 11 (Page 8+, Line Break)- Concern document begins to show a page break, and format differs from earlier pages. Question of why the line breaks are used and recommendation they are removed.

Non-DSA Member Case Management Compliance - Comments. Agree with formatting concerns.

  • Comment 1 (Page 1, Line Break)- Concern document begins to show a page break, and format differs from other documents. Question of why the line breaks are used and recommendation they are removed.
  • Comment 2 (Page 1, Point 1, Bullet 1)- “A” of approved highlighted but no concern given and no clarification provided in meeting.

Overcoming Geographic Barriers: Comments. Agree with formatting concerns.

  • Comment 1 (Page 1, Bullet 2)- Question if this must specifically be a Colorado Drivers License. Also wonder if there is a timeline requirement to obtain licensing. Will verify if current information is accurate or if update is needed.
  • Comment 2 (Page 2, Bullet 2)- Concern this does not note the need for the Hiring Managers to discuss the travel needs so the potential employee is aware of travel requirements. Recommendation to add an additional note the Hiring Manager will discuss there may occasionally be needed to travel outside of Weld for monitoring visits if we provide services for an individual due to an exceptions process.

Person Centered Case Management- Comments. Agree with formatting concerns.

  • Comment 1 (Page 2, Point 5, Bullet 1): Concern this does not mention the specific time frame for notice. Explanation Notice of Action (NOA) must be sent in 11 days from change but can be a complex answer depending on circumstances. Recommendation to reference Notice of Action policy or HCPF site for clarification.
  • Comment 2 (Page 4, Point 2, Bullet 2): Concern with wording of “Retraining” as is expresses a negative connotation rather than expressing the need for ongoing training requirements or refresher trainings when state determines there should be a mass training. Recommendation to separate sentences expressing ongoing training needs.

No Physical or Programmatic Barriers: Comments. No Formatting concerns.

  • Comment 1 (Page 1, 2nd Point 1)- Concern this notes “Regular audits” but does not define timeline of regular audits. Recommendation to connect with Organizational Integrity for clarification of timeline to add specification to document.
  • Comment 2 (Page 2, Point 5)- Concern “thoroughly” is too general and should include a specific timeline. Recommendation to connect with Organizational Integrity for clarification of timeline to add specification to document.

Nondiscrimination Policy:

No comments or Formatting changes. (Saved Title spelling needs corrected from Nondescrimination to Nondiscrimination)

Overall comments:

Acronyms should be uniform across all documentation. Acronyms must always be spelled out at initial use. If individual requests to have these documents printed, there must be a way for these documents to print the hyperlink address. This must be reviewed across all Policy and Procedures. All Policy and Procedures will also need updated to reflect the changes with CFC and removal of CHCBS. Some documents also show odd line breaks and should be consistent across all documentation and should remove line breaks.

09:45–09:51 Review of Complaints/Trends

Review Excel sheet with complaints.
Notes:

  • 3 complaints in last fiscal year. All 3 complaints were regarding lack of follow-up or responsiveness on behalf of the Case Manager. 2 complaints were regarding the same Case Manager that is no longer with Weld County CMA. The Supervisor become involved to assist individuals and resolve concerns. The third complaint was regarding the Intake process and was determined the Case Manager acted timely and appropriately but did not do a good job explaining the process to the family. The supervisor became involved and connected with family to offer further explanation and resolved concern and is working with case manager on alternative explanations that can reduce family frustration.

Discussion:

  • CAC agreed these were handled well.

09:51-09:51 Review of Exceptions to the Defined Service Area

There were no exception requests for the 4th quarter of the fiscal year.

09:51-10:01 Other Changes for Case Management since last review

Discussions and questions for additional changes the Case Management Agency is experiencing and updates for the CAC.
Notes: 

  • Further discussion on the changes with CFC and change from CHCBS to CwCHN. This change should be beneficial for families as it opens available services. There will be a period where some families will not be able to access some of the services due to having to wait for their annual reassessment. If there is a crisis or significant change, then a reassessment can be completed sooner. For those who were already on waivers they will have to wait until next year to change at their CSR. Currently advising families to keep waiver services and CFC and explaining why it is beneficial to maintain those services due to delays/waitlists for those wanting to change back. Example: Some Adult waivers if they need assisted living facility, they would need to wait for assessments to be completed before they could move into the facility.
    • Discussion: Changes have been very hectic and agree there is a lot of misinformation out there that the CM’s are working to correct misconceptions and educate parties for how CFC and other services would work. Trying to education many provider agencies on information they are sharing with individuals and community to help create appropriate expectations. Have been advising HCPF of some provider agencies that grossly misinterpret information as it sets the family and case managers up for failure. REQUEST: if you come across concern/questions, please connect with Angela or talk to the agency to discuss the concerns. CFC is extremely confusing and complex making it difficult to explain. We are hopeful with time after this transition things will be easier to work through.

10:02-10:05 Meeting Close

Final questions, updates, or concerns.

Notes: 

  • At next quarterly review the CAC will begin reviewing the CMA budget. Kelly Morrison will provide budget updates.
  • Question of what assessment has taken over the SIS.
    • Discussion: The ISLA is the temporary fix. There are 3 Case Manager’s trained to complete the ISLA. The Case Manager’s find this assessment simpler and easier to complete. Question of how long it takes to complete the ISLA vs the 3-4 hours the SIS would take. Will follow up with the expected times.
  • Next meeting October 23. We are getting through the P&P and expect there will not be as many to review soon. Will need to create a cell phone and CAC policy for review.
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