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Steamboat Springs — Faced with deciding whether Congress should reauthorize a federal and state program to help uninsured children, U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar is seeking professional input.

Representatives of Salazar's Colorado and Washington staffs will be in Colorado this week to gather information on how the State Children's Health Insurance Program is working before reauthorization is considered.

Salazar has invited about 12 health care "stakeholders" in Northwest Colorado to provide feedback. Scott Remley, deputy communications director for Salazar, said Wednesday's meeting is not open to the public.

"We will be using the meetings to foster an exchange of ideas and information on SCHIP," Remley said. "These meetings were developed at the senator's request."

SCHIP, or CHP+ in Colorado, was created nearly a decade ago as part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. Together with Medicaid, SCHIP has helped reduce the number of low-income uninsured children by expanding eligibility levels and simplifying application procedures.

Congress will decide this year whether to reauthorize the federal program, and Salazar sits on the Senate Finance Committee, which will review the program before Congress votes on it.

"When it's time to be doing the nuts and bolts on this law, he'll be able to say, 'I talked to my people in Colorado,'" Remley said of Salazar's motivation for the meetings.

Carol Sharp of the Visiting Nurse Association will attend Wednesday's meeting.

"They need to realize that even though more of the (state's) population is in the cities, most of Colorado is rural," Sharp said. "In rural counties, we don't have access to all our numbers because it's protected."

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, commonly referred to as HIPAA, prevents the VNA from gathering much information, so the association can't judge how effective its education and outreach programs are, Sharp said.

"They need to ease up on the HIPAA," she added.

The SCHIP informational meetings will be held throughout the state this week, and Salazar identified Steamboat as the meeting location for all of Northwest Colorado, which includes Routt, Moffat, Grand, Jackson and Rio Blanco counties. The meeting is at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Centennial Hall.

Salazar will not be in attendance, Remley said.

Monday's meetings were in Durango and Fort Morgan.

Among the topics that will be discussed during the 90-minute meeting Monday are enrollment, outreach and education, coverage expansion, funding issues, efficiency and quality measures, and the integration of CHP+ and Medicaid.

- To reach Melinda Mawdsley, call 871-4208 or e-mail mmawdsley@steamboatpilot.com