Aug. 24, 2016 Practice transformation Funds awarded to 47 SIM practices to achieve integrated care By Connor Holzkamp, communications coordinator, Colorado State Innovation Model The Colorado State Innovation Model (SIM) Office and The Colorado Health Foundation (TCHF) will support select SIM practices with more than $1.5 million in funding during the next two years to advance the integration of behavioral and physical health within the framework of SIM, which is funded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Practices participating in the first SIM cohort were eligible to apply for competitive small grants of up to $40,000 from the SIM practice transformation fund. The funding, which varies in amount by practice, will supplement other forms of financial and technical assistance support offered through SIM and help practices actualize their practice improvement plans (a tool used to set and document practice level goals related to accomplishing SIM practice transformation milestones). In order to remain compliant with federal regulations and maximize the ways in which practices could use funds, the funding was divided into two separate streams with different focus areas outlined below. Practices selected one of these funding streams. Awards from the SIM funding stream will be used for:  Training and onboarding clinical staff  Upgrades and customizations to existing technology to support integrated care  Methods to foster patient and family engagement in integrated care  Methods to foster better coordination and referrals to specialty mental health settings Awards from the TCHF funding stream will be used for:  Capital costs to support renovations of clinical and/or team space that foster integrated, collaborative care  Seed funding to support hiring (or contracting) behavioral health clinicians and their initial salary expenses  Technological solutions to support systematic screening for behavioral health problems A total of 66 practices submitted applications for this funding and 47 were recommended for funding. Proposals that were recommended for funding clearly identified a funding stream and articulated a specific plan to use resources as a stepping stone to reach their goals. The SIM Office is currently working with practices recommended for funding to finalize budgets and scopes of work and is in the process of executing contracts with awardees. During the next two years the SIM Office anticipates that a total of 400 practices will have the opportunity to apply for funding through the SIM practice transformation fund with approximately $6 million to be awarded across all SIM practice cohorts. This funding will augment financial and technical assistance that is available through SIM and will help ensure that practices get the most out of this initiative. Get more information on SIM practice transformation efforts along with a list of all the practices that are participating in SIM.

The project described was supported by Funding Opportunity Number CMS -1G1-14-001 from the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The contents provided are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of HHS or any of its agencies.