Respite Care Task Force
House Bill 15-1233: created the Respite Care Task Force within the Colorado Department of Human Services to study, through data collection, the dynamics of supply and demand with regard to respite care services in Colorado, including:
Access to respite care services.
The types of services that are most in demand and the services that are currently available:
- The availability and level of culturally competent care and patient-centered care
- The number of respite caregivers in the State and their locations
- Solutions to increase the number of respite caregivers
- The funding of respite care services, including access to that funding
Other respite care issues are determined appropriate by the Task Force.
The Task Force met over a six-month period and was comprised of fourteen appointees representing various stakeholder groups, including respite care recipients, home health care agencies, respite care agencies, hospice agencies, and specific special health care need support and advocacy groups.
Respite Care Task Force Project
Based on their research and discussion, the Respite Care Task Force proposed six recommendations to the legislature. Four of these recommendations were approved and assigned funding, to be overseen by the Colorado Department of Human Services. These recommendations guided the activities of the Respite Care Task Force project, including:
- Caregiver outreach and education
- Creating and disseminating a statewide CO caregiver outreach and awareness campaign
- Website improvements to help family and professional caregivers access resources and support
- Professional and family caregiver training
- Create an up-to-date, online inventory of existing training opportunities for providing respite care along with information on how to become a respite care provider
- Identification of a best-practices, multi-tiered template for respite trainings
- Policy recommendations focused on respite care and caregiving
- Research and data collection to better understand and evaluate caregiving and respite care services and needs in Colorado
