Colorado Revised Statutes Title 25.5. Health Care Policy and Financing § 25.5-5-801. Legislative declaration

(a) In order to provide quality behavioral health services to families of children and youth with behavioral health challenges, behavioral health services should be coordinated among state departments and political subdivisions of the state and should be culturally competent, cost-effective, and provided in the least restrictive settings;

(b) The behavioral health system and child- and youth-serving agencies are often constrained by resource capacity and systemic barriers that can create difficulties in providing appropriate and cost-effective interventions and services for children and youth;

(c) Children and youth with behavioral health challenges may require a multi-system level of care that can lead to duplication and fragmentation of services. To avoid these problems, keep families together, and support caregivers during a child's or youth's behavioral health challenge, departments and political subdivisions of the state must collaborate with one another.

(d) The Colorado state innovation model, an initiative housed in the office of the governor, has worked to integrate behavioral health and physical health, has made significant progress advancing the use of alternative payment models, and has created infrastructure for screening and innovative payment reforms. However, future work is needed to further expand and improve integrated services for children and families, with a focus on early and upstream interventions.