Notable achievements
Our members frequently identify advocacy as one of the most critical services CMS provides. We are your voice in the public policy arena with regulators, the media, health plans and the broader patient community. We continue to push an agenda that’s focused on benefitting you professionally, while also working to improve the health and wellness of your patients.
Our Policy and Advocacy team works on dozens of issues at the state capitol every year. Here are just a few of CMS’ notable achievements at the state capitol over the last five years:
Managed Care Reforms
- Passed first-in-the-nation legislation to standardize health plan contracts.
- Passed groundbreaking legislation allowing physicians to review and appeal the methodology behind commercial health and workers compensation carriers’ physician ratings systems.
- Passed a key administrative simplification bill requiring health plans to standardize their claims edits.
- Passed prior authorization reform to simplify and standardize the process.
Patient Safety and Professional Liability
- Beat back attempts to destabilize Colorado’s medical liability environment.
- Defended confidentiality in professional review while allowing for more transparency and accountability.
- Introduced landmark patient safety legislation to begin the process of moving Colorado away from fault-based liability and give injured patients alternatives for dealing with medical error.
Access to Care
- Passed legislation ensuring you receive full compensation for telemedicine visits.
- Successfully lobbied to increase primary care reimbursements rates in the Medicaid program to 95% of Medicare rates.
- Supported legislation that increases access to care by increasing Medicaid and CHP+ eligibility levels without draining general fund dollars.
Public Health
- Passed legislation to improve vaccination rates among school aged children.
- Worked to support your profession during the COVID-19 public health emergency.
- Supported several bills to address the public health crisis of opioid misuse and abuse.
To learn more about CMS’s Public Affairs activities, contact:
Chet Seward, Chief Strategy Officer
720-739-5456
chet_seward@cms.org