Colorado Watch
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‘The program’: Using the homeless to reap Medicaid millions is not new
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Editor’s Note: This article is part of a Colorado Watch series that looked into how homeless people were offered housing and “donations” from a church in return for becoming clients of a home health care agency that billed Medicaid millions. Read the other stories here. Federal rules prohibit anyone from giving any Medicare or Medicaid beneficiary any remuneration —…
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‘The program’: On Going HHC roots deeply intertwined with others
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Editor’s Note: This story is part of a series. Read about how “the program” exploits Colorado’s homeless using housing and cash, and how home health in Colorado is a complex setup. Seska Bell is a licensed practical nurse who has long worked in the home health industry, according to testimony she recently gave in a…
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‘The program’: Medicaid for home health in Colorado is complex setup
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Editor’s Note: This story is part of a series. Read about how “the program” exploits Colorado’s homeless using housing and cash and about the group On Going HHC. Read the other articles here. Home health care in Colorado is a complicated business. To provide the service, agencies must be certified and licensed through the Department…
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Assisted-living facility in Colorado faced minimal fine after death of 73-year-old man
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On Jan. 6, just after 8:30 p.m., Robert Dutkevitch rolled his wheelchair onto the smoking patio outside The Argyle assisted-living facility in Denver. Minutes later, the 73-year-old suddenly slumped in his chair, his head lolling to the side. He then fell headfirst into some rocks, not moving. Another resident outside went in to report what…
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New rules for private judges in Colorado include discipline oversight, campaign contributions
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The Colorado Supreme Court recently determined the state’s private judges — retired jurists appointed to oversee civil cases that rarely get public scrutiny — can now make political contributions freely and without reserve, overruling a prohibition that had been in place for decades. The move comes a year after a Denver Gazette investigation into the…
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Colorado rape cases rarely result in an arrest and prosecution
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Authorities say they are especially difficult cases. In Colorado, most go nowhere. Over the past decade, for every 10 reports of rape, there is only one arrest. Warning: This story contains descriptions of sexual violence. Kiersten May remembered a fuzziness overtake her as Saturday night slid into Sunday morning at the remote Colorado mountain campsite…
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State audit: Rape kit backlog reduced but more work needed to hit goal
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In the past year, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation has slashed the time it takes to process DNA collected in sexual assault cases, but the agency still is far short of its turnaround goal, the state auditor reported on Wednesday. While praising the progress made in the past year, the audit showed that the 190…
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Colorado’s charitable gaming board to study Denver Gazette’s findings
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Colorado’s freshman board overseeing the state’s $110 million charitable gaming industry on Friday created a committee to tackle issues raised in a Denver Gazette investigation that exposed, among other issues, poor supervision and illegal operators. The Colorado Charitable Gaming Board, in only its second meeting since the Denver Gazette series ran in October, unanimously formed…
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Colorado campaign finance penalties ‘a runaway train without an off-ramp’
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Each day, Mike Stapleton wakes up owing the state of Colorado another $1,550. By the end of each week, Stapleton’s debt for not filing nearly three dozen campaign finance reports dating to April 2018 will have grown by nearly $11,000. As of Dec. 8, Stapleton and his campaign – The Committee to Elect Michael Stapleton…
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Judicial discipline changes moving at a slow pace
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Colorado’s judicial system is barely closer to fixing what some have called a broken process of disciplining judges a year after voters approved a new method of dealing with the issue and eight months after revelations the state fosters a private system of judges who fall outside of that oversight. The state’s Commission on Judicial…