Colorado Hospital Transformation Program | Department of Health Care Policy and Financing

What is the Hospital Transformation Program (HTP)?

The goal of the HTP is to improve the quality of hospital care provided to Health First Colorado (Colorado's Medicaid program) members by tying provider fee-funded hospital payments to quality-based initiatives.

Over the course of the five-year program, provider fee-funded hospital payments will transition from pay-for-process and reporting to a pay-for-performance structure in an effort to improve quality, demonstrate meaningful community engagement and improve health outcomes over time.

Key activities and quality measures for HTP are consistent across the state, yet flexible enough to allow hospitals to work with their communities on the best interventions and approaches that serve them.

For more information and overview of the Hospital Transformation Program, please visit the link below for additional resources.

HTP Goals

Improve patient outcomes through care redesign and integration of care across settings.
Improve the performance of the delivery system by ensuring appropriate care in appropriate settings.
Lower Health First Colorado costs through reductions in avoidable hospital utilization and increased effectiveness and efficiency in care delivery.
Accelerate hospitals’ organizational, operational and systems readiness for value-based payment.

A combination of a State Plan Amendment and federal waiver under Section 1115 of the Social Security Act will be utilized for the implementation and operations of HTP. This gives the Secretary of Health and Human Services authority to approve state-specific experimental, pilot, or demonstration projects that promote the objectives of the Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) programs as well as provide additional flexibility to design and improve their programs.

HTP Waiver

Tools and Resources

Hospital Transformation Program Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - Updated October 27, 2023
HTP Quarterly Reporting Guide - December 2023
HTP Hospital Index User's Guide - April 2024
HTP Hospital Index Procedural Episode Definitions - Updated August 1, 2022
Hospital Index Timeline - November 2023

HTP Measures and Framework Documents

This section includes overview documents outlining priority areas, hospital participation, project development, quality measures approach, and program timeline.

HTP Measure Specification Details - November 2024
Hospital Index Milestone Reporting - July 2024
HTP Scoring Framework - November 2024
Diversity and Inclusion Measure Clarification

Community and Health Neighborhood Engagement (CHNE)

As part of participation in the HTP, hospitals are required to conduct CHNE throughout the duration of their participation in the program. Requiring continuing collaboration with local community organizations and other external stakeholders will ensure that hospitals and their interventions continue to be responsive to community needs throughout the life of the HTP. As part of ongoing CHNE, hospitals are required to have engagement each quarter and during each program year it will include engagement with key stakeholders, community advisory meetings, and public input. More details can be found at the links below.