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Committee backs bill to study and strengthen Colorado’s behavioral health crisis response
Summary
Committee advanced legislation directing the Behavioral Health Administration and Department of Public Safety to convene stakeholders, map crisis‑response capacity, and pursue federal reimbursement pathways including up to 60 days of inpatient coverage under Medicaid waivers.
A bipartisan measure to strengthen Colorado’s behavioral‑health crisis response moved out of the House Health and Human Services Committee with a favorable recommendation to the Committee of the Whole.
Representative Bradfield, the bill’s House sponsor, told the panel the bill seeks to catalog existing resources such as co‑responder teams and mobile crisis units, identify gaps in the crisis continuum and reimbursement shortfalls, and explore federal options to expand inpatient Medicaid reimbursement. "This bill is … geared to advance and enhance Colorado's behavioral health crisis response system by addressing gaps and improving the accessibility," she said.
Co‑sponsor Representative English said the bill requires collaborative work between the Department of Public Safety and the Behavioral Health Administration (BHA), an inventory of facility capabilities, and improved data‑sharing to support coordinated care. The bill also instructs the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing to seek federal authorization to reimburse institutions for up to 60 days of inpatient behavioral health care when federal rules permit, and requires annual reporting to the General Assembly on reasons for discharge from emergency mental health holds.
Advocates with lived experience and mental‑health nonprofits urged support. Evan Silverman, who described several mobile crisis team responses that he said helped him avoid hospitalization, testified: "The STAR program is a model for crisis response and I believe Senate Bill 25 42 will help people in other parts of the state receive similar care." Mental Health Colorado and other groups testified in support, saying the bill would expand alternative response models and reimbursement pathways.
Witnesses also pressed for clarity on funding. Representative Bradley asked where the inpatient reimbursement would come from; sponsors said the route is federal Medicaid funding routed through HCPF, and several speakers noted much BHA funding to date has been from federal ARPA grants and that sustained system funding is a separate budget question.
The committee approved the bill to the Committee of the Whole on a 12–1 vote.
