Behavioral health Medicaid rates in Colorado are strongest where care is most intensive. Health First Colorado pays $787.64 a day for psychiatric residential treatment, which ranks 6th of 15 states and is 50.0% above the $525.10 national median. Outpatient therapy sits almost exactly at the national median, while community hourly services fall well below it. All of these rates were cut 2.0% on July 1, 2026.
Each figure here is compiled from official state Medicaid publications and links to its source document on our state pages. For national medians across every service, see behavioral health Medicaid rates by state.
At $787.64 a day, effective July 1, 2026, Colorado's residential rate sits in the upper tier. Minnesota ($1,244.07), Ohio ($1,092.60), Oregon ($1,003.95), New York ($995.49) and Nevada ($800.00) pay more. The lowest-paying states are Louisiana ($448.73), Wyoming ($443.78) and Nebraska ($283.19).
For a residential facility, a daily rate 50.0% above the median is meaningful, because the daily rate has to cover round-the-clock staffing, clinical programming, education coordination, food and the building. Colorado's psychiatric residential child care facility rates and Qualified Residential Treatment Program rates are published in separate schedules, and both moved down 2.0% in July 2026.
Colorado publishes residential behavioral health rates on two separate schedules, and providers should know which one governs their beds.
Psychiatric residential treatment facilities
A psychiatric residential treatment facility provides inpatient-level psychiatric care for young people in a non-hospital setting, under federal Medicaid rules for that facility type. The $787.64 daily rate belongs to this schedule, published as the Psychiatric Residential Child Care Facility rates.
Qualified Residential Treatment Programs
A Qualified Residential Treatment Program is a federal designation for residential settings that serve children in the child welfare system with clinical needs, with requirements around trauma-informed care, nursing access and family involvement. Colorado prices these programs on their own QRTP rate schedule.
For a provider operating both types of beds, the two schedules are budgeted separately. Both moved down 2.0% in July 2026, but they start from different bases and serve different referral sources, so occupancy in each should be planned on its own terms.
| Service | Code | Colorado rate | Rank | vs national median |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Psychiatric residential treatment (day) | facility | $787.64 | 6 of 15 | +50.0% |
| Outpatient psychotherapy and evaluation | 90846 | $82.99 | 15 of 28 | -0.4% |
| Skills training (hour) | H2014 | $51.28 | 16 of 33 | +0.2% |
| Mental health assessment | H0001 | $101.63 | 18 of 27 | -18.7% |
| Therapeutic behavioral services (hour) | H2019 | $37.12 | 23 of 28 | -57.7% |
| Wraparound (hour) | H2021 | $47.48 | 8 of 11 | -47.5% |
Two Colorado rates land almost on the national median: family psychotherapy on code 90846 at $82.99, and skills training on H2014 at $51.28 an hour. A provider moving between Colorado and a median state would see little difference on those codes.
The gaps open up elsewhere. The H0001 assessment rate of $101.63 has been in place since January 1, 2021, and the H2019 rate of $9.28 per 15 minutes, with modifiers U3, TF and HQ, is 57.7% below the median on an hourly basis. Wraparound on H2021 with modifier U7 pays $11.87 per 15 minutes, $47.48 an hour.
Colorado publishes many of its community rates with modifier combinations, and those combinations decide which rate applies. H2014 carries U1, H2019 carries U3, TF and HQ, H2021 carries U7, and counseling on H0004 and planning on T1007 carry HF.
National and state modifiers
Some of these are national HCPCS modifiers with fixed meanings: HQ marks a group setting, HF a substance abuse program and TF an intermediate level of care. The U-modifiers are assigned by the state to distinguish its own service variants. A rate published with a modifier set applies only to claims that carry that exact set.
Why it matters
Because the H2019 figure on this page is attached to a group-setting combination, providers billing individual H2019 services should confirm the rate that applies to their modifier set before budgeting.
Federal occupational wage data for May 2025 places Colorado above the national median for most roles.
- Mental health counselor: $30.00 in Colorado, $28.53 nationally
- Mental health social worker: $31.55 in Colorado, $28.98 nationally
- Clinical psychologist: $54.46 in Colorado, $48.36 nationally
- Psychiatrist: $128.06 in Colorado, $135.51 nationally
- Nurse practitioner: $63.91 in Colorado, $63.61 nationally
- Psychiatric technician: $22.81 in Colorado, $21.70 nationally
Higher wages squeeze the community codes. For H2019 at $37.12 an hour, the technician wage takes 87.3% of the rate and the margin after a loaded wage is $4.70 an hour. For H2014 at $51.28, the wage share is 63.2% and the margin $18.86. Counseling is the healthiest line: Colorado pays $24.79 per 15 minutes on H0004 with modifier HF, $99.16 an hour, where the counselor wage is 43.0% of the rate and the margin is $56.52 an hour.
A margin of a few dollars an hour on H2019 leaves almost nothing for supervision, travel or documentation. Programs that deliver it in Colorado usually do so as part of a broader service package, where counseling and residential revenue carry the overhead.
Colorado's capitated behavioral health benefit is run by Regional Accountable Entities: Rocky Mountain Health Plans (RAE 1), Northeast Health Partners (RAE 2), Colorado Community Health Alliance (RAE 3) and Colorado Access (RAE 4). For this service line, plans must pay at least the published rate. That makes the Health First Colorado fee schedule a real floor, not just a reference point, and it means the 2026 cut flows through to plan contracts priced at the minimum.
Some behavioral health services are also paid fee-for-service by HCPF outside the RAE capitation. Our data counts 24 plans in Colorado; the Colorado managed care page lists them.
Negotiating above the floor
A floor protects providers from being paid below the schedule, but it does not stop a RAE from paying more. Providers with scarce capacity, such as residential beds or specialized child and family services, have room to negotiate above the floor, particularly after a cut lowers it.
Colorado's 2026 behavioral health schedules moved in one direction.
- The Behavioral Health Fee-for-Service Rates for FY 26/27, effective July 1, 2026, carry a 2.0% reduction.
- The Integrated Care fee schedule and the July 2026 outpatient substance abuse fee schedule carry the same 2.0% reduction.
- The psychiatric residential treatment facility and Qualified Residential Treatment Program schedules for July 2026 also moved by 2.0% downward.
- Earlier, the FY 25/26 behavioral health schedule effective October 1, 2025 carried a 1.57% reduction, and the April 1, 2026 update carried no change.
A uniform cut keeps Colorado's relative position mostly steady, but on thin-margin codes such as H2019, a 2.0% reduction takes a large share of what is left after wages.
The same 2.0% reduction appears across Colorado's July 2026 schedules well beyond behavioral health, from home health and private duty nursing to HCBS waivers and targeted case management. That points to a budget-driven, across-the-board adjustment rather than a judgment about behavioral health rates in particular.
For providers, the lesson is to budget conservatively. Two reductions within a year mean the schedule cannot be assumed to keep pace with wages, which in Colorado already run above the national median for most roles. Multi-year contracts and staffing plans should test what happens if rates stay flat or fall again, and providers should use the state's budget and rate-setting process to make the case for the services where margins are thinnest.
Colorado applies limits per state fiscal year to the core psychotherapy codes 90832, 90833, 90834, 90836 and 90837, and to family and group codes including 90846, 90847 and 90853. Codes 90785, 90791 and 90792 carry no limit. None of the core codes carries a prior-authorization rule. Clinics should track therapy sessions per member across the July-to-June fiscal year, since the count resets on July 1 rather than January 1.
Colorado is a residential-strong, community-weak state. It beats most states on daily residential care, matches the median on therapy and skills training, and trails on H2019 and wraparound. Compare with Minnesota, the top residential payer, and Nebraska, the lowest, or with Mountain neighbors Utah and New Mexico.
- Lead with residential and counseling. They carry Colorado's strongest margins.
- Check modifier sets. Community rates apply to specific combinations.
- Budget for flat or falling rates. Two cuts in a year argue for conservative forecasts.
- Count sessions by fiscal year. Psychotherapy limits reset each July 1.
- Negotiate with RAEs above the floor. Scarce services, such as residential beds, justify rates above the published minimum.
All 46,090 current Colorado Medicaid rates are available with a subscription; see pricing.
Rates are compiled from official Health First Colorado publications, including the Behavioral Health Fee-for-Service Rates for FY 26/27 and the residential treatment fee schedules, and each rate links to its source document. Rates published per 15-minute unit are converted to hourly figures by multiplying by four for ranking. Wages use federal occupational data for May 2025. The full Colorado fee schedule is on the Colorado Medicaid rates page, and our methodology explains how hourly rates and ranks are calculated.