Colorado program
A county nurse who coordinates care
A county public-health nurse can help connect your child with services and untangle care paperwork.
What it is
A county public-health nurse can help connect your child with services and untangle care paperwork.
Managing referrals and benefits can take as much energy as appointments. A county nurse may help you connect the pieces. This service coordinates care rather than paying your bills.
Eligibility rules
- Services are for Colorado families with children who have special health needs.
- Boulder's program has no income restriction. Rules and availability vary by county.
What you get
- Free nurse care coordination through the county programs.
- Help finding services and following referrals.
What the help includes
- Coordination can help with referrals and service connections. It does not itself reimburse medical or travel bills.
If you decide to apply
- Ask your county public-health department about HCP or its children-with-special-needs program.
- Describe the referrals or paperwork you need help with, or ask the hospital social worker to refer you.
Your county public-health department or HCP office · Official page ↗
After you ask
- Boulder takes referrals at 303-678-6064. El Paso's number is 719-578-3204, and no referral is needed there.
Good to know
Boulder and El Paso are examples. Your own county decides which coordination services it offers.
Other details
- Boulder and El Paso offer coordination without requiring a particular diagnosis. Your county’s public-health department explains its own services and access rules.
Official sources
“Could a county nurse help us keep track of services, and would that add anything to our hospital social worker's help? If it would, could you make the connection?”
Why I’m asking: I want a person who can help us follow referrals when the paperwork becomes hard to manage.
More background and detailed requirements
Additional program information and published rules
Who does what
The three parts, side by side. The agency decides; nobody on this page does.
You
Call the county and ask for the programme by name.
Your social worker
The hospital social worker can make the referral.
The care team
Nothing.
- Who decides
- The county public-health department.
- Ask your social worker
- “Does our county have a children with special needs nurse, and can you refer us?”
How to apply
First step: Call your county public-health department and ask for the children with special needs programme.
- Call your county public-health department and ask for the children with special needs programme.
Where it starts: Boulder County: 303-678-6064 and its referral form. El Paso County: 719-578-3204, no referral needed. Elsewhere, ask your county public-health department.
What to gather
- Your county name and the child's diagnosis summary
How long: Unknown. The time from referral to service was not published.
What a yes looks like
A named nurse who calls you back and follows the case.
What a no looks like, and the next move
Ask the hospital social worker to keep the coordination role instead.
Watch out
- These are county services and they differ. Ask your own county what it runs.
- This is coordination, not money: it does not pay a bill or a travel cost.
The numbers and the rules
The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.
What it is worth
Free nurse care coordination through the county, with no income test and no diagnosis requirement in the county programmes verified.
- $0 — Cost to the family in the Boulder County programme
Covers: Nurse care coordination · Resource navigation and referrals
Legal protection: No income restriction and no diagnosis needed in the Boulder County programme
What it costs the family: Nothing in the county programmes verified.
The eligibility facts, as published
- Residency
- Colorado; availability and rules vary by county
- Income
- No income restriction in the Boulder County programme
The trap: These are local services. The statewide rules, the diagnoses covered and whether any of it pays for treatment or travel were not established, so do not expect the county nurse to pay a bill.
Where I read this
- Boulder County - Children with Special Needs Program — Boulder County, read September 10, 2026
- El Paso County Public Health - Maternal and Child Health — El Paso County Public Health, read September 10, 2026
- Colorado Health Care Program for Children with Special Needs (HCP) — Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, read September 10, 2026