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CO HCPF Community First Choice (CFC) Billing Manual — Prior Authorization Requests (PARs)
PriorAuthorizationRequests(PARs)
AllCFCservicesrequirePriorAuthorizationRequest(PAR)beforetheycanbereimbursedbyHealthFirstColoradounlessotherwisenoted.CMAscompletethePARfortheirspecificprogramsaccordingtoinstructionspublishedintheregulationsfortheDepartmentofHealthCarePolicy&Financing(theDepartment).RefertoAppendixAlocatedontheBillingManualswebpageundertheAppendicesdrop-downfortelephonenumbers.ProviderAgenciesmaycontacttheCMA,ortheProviderServicesCallCenterforthestatusofthePARorinquireelectronicallythroughtheHealthFirstColoradoWebPortal.WhencontactingtheProviderServicesCallcenter,providersmusthavetheMember’sMedicaidIDnumberandthemember’sten-digitPARIDnumber.
TheCMAs’responsibilitiesinclude,butarenotlimitedto:
InformingMembersand/orlegalguardiansoftheeligibilityprocess
DevelopingtheappropriatePAR
SubmittingthePriorAuthorizationinformationtotheauthorizingagent.RefertoAppendixD-Programs/ServicesandAuthorizingAgencieslocatedontheBillingManualswebpageundertheAppendicesdrop-downforalistofauthorizingagents
AssessingtheMember'shealthandsocialneeds
Arrangingforface-to-facecontactwiththeMemberwithin10calendardaysofreceiptofthereferral.
Monitoringandevaluatingservices
ReassessingeachMember
Demonstratingcontinuedcost-effectivenesswheneverservicesincreaseordecrease
PriorauthorizationofservicesdoesnotguaranteeHealthFirstColoradopaymentanddoesnotserveasatimelyfilingwaiver.PriorauthorizationonlyassuresthattheapprovedserviceisamedicalnecessityandisconsideredabenefitoftheHealthFirstColorado.Allclaims,includingthoseforpriorauthorizedservices,mustmeeteligibilityandclaimsubmissionrequirements(e.g.,timelyfiling,Providerinformationcompletedappropriately,requiredattachmentsincluded,etc.)beforepaymentcanbemade.
Priorauthorizationmustbecompletedthoroughlyandaccurately.Ifanerrorisnotedonanapprovedrequest,itshouldbebroughttotheattentionoftheMember'sCaseManagerforcorrections.Procedurecodes,quantities,etc.,maybechangedorenteredbytheMember'sCaseManager.
TheauthorizingagentorCaseManagementAgencyisresponsiblefortimelysubmissionanddistributionofcopiesofapprovalstoagenciesandProviderscontractedtoprovideservices.
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Provenance
- Source
- hcpf.colorado.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-07-26
- Edition
- 2026-07-26
- Content hash
2ad6ca9d839133c9701f3be572ecbbc75bca60ef0d27bacde98dd25fc6605164
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