§ 25.5-5-801 — Legislative declaration

(1) The general assembly finds and
declares that:

(a) In order to provide quality behavioral health services to families of
children and youth with behavioral health challenges, behavioral health services
should be coordinated among state departments and political subdivisions of the
state and should be culturally competent, cost-effective, and provided in the least
restrictive settings;

(b) The behavioral health system and child- and youth-serving agencies are
often constrained by resource capacity and systemic barriers that can create
difficulties in providing appropriate and cost-effective interventions and services
for children and youth;

(c) Children and youth with behavioral health challenges may require a multi-system level of care that can lead to duplication and fragmentation of services. To
avoid these problems, keep families together, and support caregivers during a
child's or youth's behavioral health challenge, departments and political
subdivisions of the state must collaborate with one another.

(d) The Colorado state innovation model, an initiative housed in the office of
the governor, has worked to integrate behavioral health and physical health, has
made significant progress advancing the use of alternative payment models, and
has created infrastructure for screening and innovative payment reforms. However,
future work is needed to further expand and improve integrated services for
children and families, with a focus on early and upstream interventions.

(2) The general assembly further finds and declares that, building upon work
completed by Colorado's trauma-informed system of care, Colorado must
implement a model of comprehensive system of care for families of children and
youth with behavioral health challenges.

Legislative History

Source: L. 2019: Entire part added, (SB 19-195), ch. 190, p. 2098, � 2, effective August 2.