HCBS Waiver Critical Incident Reporting

Health First Colorado (Colorado’s Medicaid Program) is a health care program for low income Coloradans. A waiver is an extra set of Health First Colorado benefits that you can qualify for in certain cases. Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) Waiver services complement and/or supplement the services that are available through the Medicaid State plan and other Federal, state and local public programs as well as the supports that families and communities provide to individuals. These benefits can help an individual remain in your home and community and, thereby, avoid institutionalization.

A critical incident is an actual or alleged event that creates the risk of serious harm to the health or welfare of a client receiving Health First Colorado benefits. A critical incident may endanger or negatively impact the mental and/or physical well-being of a client.

Critical Incidents include, but are not limited to: Death, Mistreatment/Abuse/Neglect/Exploitation, Injury/Illness to Client, Damage to Consumer’s Property/Theft, Medication Management Issues, Criminal justice involvement/incarceration, Missing Person, Unsafe housing/displacement and others.

When a critical incident occurs involving an HCBS waiver participant, a report must be made to the case manager of the case management agency that is coordinating the care for the waiver participant. The case manager must report the critical incident within one business day of notification of the incident. The critical incident will be entered into the State Benefits Utilization System (BUS). Critical incidents can be reported to the case manager by home health agencies, caregivers, law enforcement, participants and their family.

CIRs Updates/Projects

Category	Short Description	Date Reported	Status	Additional Attachments
CIRS Childrens Extensive Supports Waiver Timely Reporting	HCPF OM 18-019 Operational Memo		10/23/2018	CIRS CES Timely Reporting Memo
CIRS updates in the BUS	Several CIRS updates and changes to the BUS		10/15/2018	CIRS Update Release Memo

Critical Incident Forms and documents

Title	Short Description	Additional Attachments
Service Provider Critical Incident Reporting form	Used to notify waiver case manager of a Critical Incident	Service Provider CIRS Form
Service Provider Critical Incident Follow-up Reporting form	Used to notify waiver case manager of a Critical Incident Follow-up	Service Provider CIRS Follow-up Form

CIRs Guides and Definitions

The following guides and definitions have been created to help you properly report critical incidents in the BUS.

Title	Short Description	Additional Attachments/Links
Critical Incident Reporting Technical Guide	Guide for entering CIRS in the BUS updated Nov 2018	CIRS Technical Guide
CIRS Agency Administrator Reporting Technical Guide	Guide for Agency Administrator BUS Reports	CIRS Agency Administrator Reporting Technical Guide
Entering Critical Incidents into the BUS	CIRS eLearning Module	Entering Critical Incidents into the BUS (Use Internet Explorer or Microsoft Edge Browsers to view)
Colorado Choice Transitions Critical Incident Reporting Guide	CCT Guide for entering CIRS in the BUS	CCT Critical Incident Reporting in the BUS
CCB Critical Incident Reporting Requirements	CCB CIRS reporting requirements	CCB Critical Incident Reporting Requirements
CIRS Training Module #1 - Add New CIRS	Changes to the Add New CIRS screen	CIRS Training Module #1
CIRS Training Module #2 - Add Log notes screen	CIRS Changes to the Add Log note screen	CIRS Training Module #2
CIRS Training Module #3 - Editing and Deleting CIRS	New Edit/Delete options for CIRS	CIRS Training Module #3
DD Mistreatment Definitions	DD Mistreatment terminology definitions	DD Mistreatment Definitions

CIRs Training Modules

The following training modules have been created to support your Agency's proper reporting of critical incidents in the BUS.

Title	Short Description	Additional Attachments/Links
Critical Incident Definition	Critical Incident Definition and examples	CIRS Definition Module

CIRs Archived Memos

The following CIRs memos have been archived for your reference after issue resolution.

Category	Short Description	Date Archived	Additional Attachments
CIRS update in the BUS	Secondary email address added to Critical Incident Follow-ups	10/09/2018	Secondary Email Address CIRS Memo
CIRS update in the BUS	DD Waiver Critical Incidents will be entered in the BUS	10/09/2018	CIRS/BUS Memo
CIRS Issues in the BUS	Print function not working, Elderly Abuse reminder and future dates	10/09/2018	CIRS/BUS Memo
CIRS Overdue Reports	CIRS Overdue Report data is invalid	10/09/2018	CIRS Memo
CIRS update in the BUS	Restrictive Intervention section added to the BUS	05/05/2015	CIRS Restrictive Intervention Memo

Contact:

Michael Pasillas - LTSS Critical Incident Policy Specialist

Andrea Behnke - IDD Critical Incident Policy Specialist