CO should explore applying for an:
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1115 Medicaid waiver to capitalize on CU's beneficial bacteria research

       About Section 1115 Demonstrations :

Section 1115 of the Social Security Act gives the Secretary of Health and Human Services authority to approve experimental, pilot, or demonstration projects that promote the objectives of the Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) programs. The purpose of these demonstrations, which give states additional flexibility to design and improve their programs, is to demonstrate and evaluate policy approaches such as:

• Expanding eligibility to individuals who are not otherwise Medicaid or CHIP eligible;
• Providing services not typically covered by Medicaid; or
• Using innovative service delivery systems that improve care, increase efficiency, and reduce costs.

There are general criteria CMS uses to determine whether Medicaid/CHIP program objectives are met. These criteria include whether the demonstration will:

1. increase and strengthen overall coverage of low-income individuals in the state;
2. increase access to, stabilize, and strengthen providers and provider networks available to serve Medicaid and low-income populations in the state;
3. improve health outcomes for Medicaid and other low-income populations in the state; or
4. increase the efficiency and quality of care for Medicaid and other low-income populations through initiatives to transform service delivery networks.

Demonstrations must also be "budget neutral" to the Federal government, which means that during the course of the project Federal Medicaid expenditures will not be more than Federal spending without the demonstration.

On May 12, 2016, CMS announced a new policy for rebasing budget neutrality in longstanding section 1115 demonstrations that will require the demonstration's budget ceiling to be rebased using recent cost data and growth trends at every demonstration extension and will also limit carry-forward of accumulated savings from one demonstration approval period to the next.

For an overview of the revised section 1115 budget neutrality policy, please review the All State Presentation rolled-out to states.

Generally, section 1115 demonstrations are approved for an initial five-year period and can be extended for an additional three years. States commonly request and receive additional 3-year extension approvals.

Certain demonstrations that have had at least one full extension cycle without substantial program changes will be eligible for CMS’ “fast track” review process for demonstration extensions.

For more information on the fast track federal review process for section 1115 Medicaid and CHIP demonstration extensions, visit the How States Apply page.

​https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/section-1115-demo/about-1115/index.html

 As a vet I have struggled with getting any care I was promised. When we enlisted we were given promises that 20 years later aren't as solid as the plastic card we were issued.

It's sad and he sought care. The FBI dropped the ball a year ago. What he did was awful but the help he didn't get to prevent this was awful too.

                    ----Dr. Lacey Berumen

Val's Take
      Well I guess some American Veteran of Iraq shot up a Florida airport and killed 5 people and now they are considering the death penalty.
         His history of mental problems after coming back from Iraq was well documented.
          Our legal and mental health systems for dealing with this are so broken and their understanding of the problems so incomplete -- unfortunately that doesn't stop anybody from pontificating and making all kinds of conclusions in Court they couldn't possibly know.
           That's why it is so important from my perspective to limit the discussion and determinations to:  SAFETY.  We do have to make those determinations and they probably will be imperfect, but when we want to make these moral judgments and in extreme cases kill people -- we commit horrible crimes of our own.
            History is NOT going to be kind to us folks, especially when there is plenty of existing evidence that our current paradigms are wrong.
             

Thomas Kuhn, author of "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions."