Direct support professional training in Colorado is governed by the Department of Health Care Policy & Financing (HCPF), whose Office of Community Living administers the Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) waivers serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The controlling rule is 10 CCR 2505-10 §8.7409, which sets training obligations for provider agencies delivering waiver services.

Under §8.7409.D, provider agencies must give staff an organized orientation program and complete required training before a worker has unsupervised contact with the people they support. The mandated content areas include person-centered practices — the Person-Centered Support Plan (PCSP) and dignity of risk — health and safety topics including diagnosis-specific needs of the individuals served, each person's individual protocols, and the agency's own policies and procedures. Colorado does not attach a statewide hour count to this core training; the standard is competency-based and pre-unsupervised-contact.

Ongoing training in Colorado is likewise topic- and competency-driven rather than hour-driven. Agencies are expected to keep staff current as PCSPs and individual protocols change, and to document that training in a form that stands up in HCPF program reviews. Federal HCBS Settings Rule training is a live area to watch: under HCPF Operational Memo OM 26-035 (May 2026), settings training obligations currently attach to administrators and supervisors, while a direct-care-worker requirement has been deferred — providers should expect future guidance on the DCW piece.

Medication administration is a separate, gated pathway. Unlicensed staff who administer medications must complete Qualified Medication Administration Personnel (QMAP) training under 6 CCR 1011-1, Chapter 24, which is overseen by the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment (CDPHE). QMAP training may only be delivered by a CDPHE Approved Training Entity (ATE); ATEs author their own rule-compliant curricula, and commercial ATEs operate in the state alongside agency-based ones.

Who may deliver the core DSP training? Colorado is an open-market state. HCPF's OM 26-035 states plainly that the state's COTrain LTSS curriculum is one option, "but not the only acceptable method" — provider agencies may build or buy their own person-centered training programs so long as the required content areas are covered and documented. There is no state-run platform lock and no single mandated vendor for DSP core training.

Training and eTracking Solutions provides online DSP training built for Colorado's requirements — courses mapped to the §8.7409.D content areas (person-centered practices, dignity of risk, health and safety, abuse and neglect), automatic tracking of pre-unsupervised-contact completion and ongoing in-service, and documentation designed to stand up in HCPF reviews. Because Colorado accepts provider-selected curricula, agencies can deploy TeTS courses immediately as their organized orientation program while using the platform's records to evidence compliance at survey time.