Although we have seen dramatic increases in our member numbers before -- especially when we expanded Health First Colorado under the Affordable Care Act -- we have never experienced a projected membership increase of this magnitude in such a short span of time. To adapt, we are implementing numerous system and policy changes under challenging time constraints; we appreciate your partnership through this time of dynamic change:

• As a first step, we moved in lock step with the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment and federal guidance to reduce exposure for our most vulnerable -- those in long-term care facilities and other populations who are more susceptible to COVID-19 -- through a number of provider care directives.
• We have taken steps to reduce administrative burden on providers through requests for program flexibility from our federal partners.
• We've asked our county partners and all vendors to activate their continuity of operations plans -- including work from home capability -- to ensure they can answer the phones and serve our members during the state of emergency.
• We have reduced face-to-face engagement requirements where clinically appropriate and enabled telemedicine as an alternative. And we've enacted temporary enhancements to our telemedicine policy to improve overall access to care for our members to further mitigate the spread of the virus.