If you have ever lived through a serious workplace injury — your own or a family member's — you already know that the medical care is only half the problem. The other half is everything that has to happen at home between appointments.
Getting out of bed safely after shoulder surgery. Showering with a brace on. Getting to physical therapy three times a week when you cannot drive. Eating a real meal when standing in front of the stove still hurts. Managing two kids when you cannot lift either of them.
That gap — between the medical plan and the daily reality of recovery — is where attendant home care fits. And as of May 2026, Colorado CareAssist is officially a credentialed Pinnacol SelectNet provider, which means we can step into that gap quickly, bill Pinnacol directly, and let injured workers and their families focus on getting better.
Here is what that change actually means.
What SelectNet Is
Pinnacol Assurance is the largest workers' compensation insurer in Colorado, covering roughly half of all Colorado employers. SelectNet is Pinnacol's curated provider network — a smaller, vetted group of medical providers, ancillary services, and home care agencies that Pinnacol case managers steer injured workers toward when in-network options are available.
For an attendant care agency to join SelectNet, Pinnacol reviews credentials, insurance, staff training, billing systems, and quality outcomes. It is not a fast or automatic process. Getting credentialed signals that an agency is set up to work cleanly inside the workers' comp claim process — not just provide good care, but document it, bill it, and communicate it the way the system requires.
For families, the practical difference is that a SelectNet provider can usually be authorized faster, billed more cleanly, and coordinated more tightly with the rest of the claim. There is less friction between the case manager, the adjuster, the medical providers, and the home care side.
Why It Matters: Pinnacol's Own Numbers
You do not have to take an agency's word for any of this. Pinnacol publishes outcome data comparing SelectNet providers to out-of-network providers. The numbers are notable:
- Claims resolve about 3 weeks faster on average when injured workers see SelectNet-credentialed providers
- Average claim cost is about $2,672 lower versus out-of-network
That data, published by Pinnacol's own medical director, is the strongest argument we know of for steering injured workers toward in-network care when it is available. Three weeks of recovery time matters when someone is trying to get back to work. Lower claim costs matter for employers, who feel that math in their premiums, and for the overall workers' comp system in Colorado.
What Attendant Care Actually Looks Like
It helps to make this concrete, because "attendant care" is one of those terms that can mean everything or nothing depending on who is using it.
In a workers' comp context, attendant care is the non-medical, hands-on personal support that bridges the recovery period. It is not nursing. It is not physical therapy. It is the daily stuff that becomes impossible when an injury knocks out a worker's mobility, strength, or stamina. A few examples from how this looks in practice:
- A construction worker comes home from rotator cuff surgery and cannot bathe, dress, or cook one-handed for the first three weeks. A caregiver comes in mornings to help him shower, get dressed, prep meals for the day, and drive him to physical therapy on the days his wife cannot leave work.
- A delivery driver tears her ACL and is non-weight-bearing for six weeks. A caregiver helps her with safe transfers from bed to wheelchair, manages laundry and meal prep, and gets her to follow-up appointments with the orthopedist and PT — all on hours authorized by her Pinnacol case manager.
- A warehouse worker has a serious back injury and is bracing through every transfer at home. Overnight coverage for the first two weeks prevents a fall on the way to the bathroom and keeps his recovery on track.
These are not luxury services. They are the difference between recovering at home with dignity and ending up rehospitalized because something preventable went wrong. They are also exactly what attendant care is designed to cover.
The Worker Pays Nothing
This is the part families ask about most, because medical bills are scary. For authorized hours under a Pinnacol workers' comp claim, the injured worker pays nothing. We bill Pinnacol directly under our credentialed billing entity. No invoice goes to the worker. No copay. No deductible. No "we'll figure out who owes what later."
Authorization comes from the Pinnacol case manager or adjuster, in coordination with the treating provider. Care plans are sized to what was authorized — a few hours a day, several days a week, or overnight coverage during the early weeks of recovery. We do not push to expand the plan beyond what is medically necessary, because that is not what good agencies do and Pinnacol notices when an agency tries.
How to Start a Referral
We accept referrals from Pinnacol case managers, employers, adjusters, treating physicians, and families. The fastest path is to call our office:
- (303) 757-1777 — Denver Metro and the Front Range
- (719) 428-3999 — Colorado Springs, Pueblo, and Southern Colorado
What we need: the worker's claim number, the scope of attendant care that has been authorized, and a contact for the worker. From there, our care coordinator can complete a free in-home assessment within 24 hours and have a trained caregiver in place within 48 hours. We share visit documentation and status updates with the case manager on whatever cadence works for the claim.
If you would rather start by message, the contact form on our site goes directly to our intake team.
If the Worker Is Also a Veteran
Some injured workers in Colorado are also veterans with VA Community Care eligibility. The two systems do not conflict — we can run a workers' comp authorization through Pinnacol and a Community Care authorization through TriWest in parallel when both apply, and our office handles the coordination. For more on the VA side, see our VA Community Care guide for Colorado.
The Bigger Picture
Workers' compensation is a system most people only think about when they get hurt at work, which is the worst possible moment to be learning how it operates. Our goal — as a credentialed SelectNet provider — is to take as much of the system off the family's plate as possible. We know how Pinnacol authorizes attendant care. We know what case managers need from us. We know how to bill cleanly so claims do not stall. Families get to focus on what matters, which is helping their person heal.
If you have a Pinnacol claim that may need attendant care, or you are a case manager looking to refer one, give us a call. We can usually have a clear answer about fit, scope, and timing within one conversation.
See Also
- Workers' Compensation Home Care in Colorado — the service page with full details on what we cover and how the referral works
- VA Community Care in Colorado — for injured workers who are also veterans
- Post-Hospitalization Home Care — for workers transitioning from a hospital stay back home
