Honoring Those Who Served

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Recovering at Home After Surgery

How professional home care helps veterans and families through recovery, safely and with dignity.

VA Benefits

Navigating VA Community Care

A quick guide to understanding how the VA Community Care Network works in Colorado, and how to access your benefits.

How VA in-home care hours work

Your VA authorization lists an exact number of hours for each week, called the Authorized Time per Week. The same form also prints a broad range (for example, seven to eleven hours over 180 days); ignore that range, because the weekly number is what is real and what billing is measured against. The VA sets that weekly number from its own assessment of the veteran's needs, so it differs from one person to the next and can change as needs change. Colorado CareAssist does not choose your hours. We staff and bill to the exact authorized time, and we keep track of it so you don't have to worry about using too much or too little. Billing the exact authorized time matters, because the VA reviews it and going over can trigger a TriWest audit. Our job is to help you read the authorization, understand what it covers, schedule care around it, and, when a veteran's needs grow, work with the VA case manager to request more hours. Once an authorization arrives, we schedule the first visit within 72 hours and aim for 24 to 48, which is a TriWest requirement and what families need. If you are unsure whether an authorization matches the need, call us at (303) 757-1777 and we will walk through it with you at no charge.

The referral process, start to finish

Everything begins at the VA. A veteran enrolled in VA healthcare talks with a VA primary care provider or specialist about needing help at home. The VA assesses the situation and, when home care is appropriate, the provider submits a referral for home health aide or homemaker services. The VA then issues a Request for Services, often shortened to RFS, to TriWest Healthcare Alliance, which administers the Community Care Network in Colorado. TriWest authorizes the care and routes it to an enrolled provider such as Colorado CareAssist. From there our care coordinator completes an in-home assessment, matches a caregiver, and care begins on the authorized schedule. Each step builds on the one before it, which is why the referral has to come first. For a detailed walkthrough, see the full VA Community Care process in Colorado. We are glad to help at any point, even before a referral is in place.

What TriWest direct billing means for your family

When care is authorized through the VA Community Care Network, Colorado CareAssist bills TriWest directly for that care. The veteran and family do not receive an invoice from us for those hours. The VA pays through its community care contractor (any cost-sharing is determined by the VA based on eligibility), and our team handles the billing paperwork so the family does not have to. This is different from private-pay care, and different from pension benefits such as Aid and Attendance, which pay the veteran a monthly amount the family can put toward care costs. Many families use Community Care for the VA-authorized hours and other benefits for anything beyond that. If you are not sure which part of your care is covered, we will review the authorization with you and explain, in plain terms, what is billed to the VA and what is not.