Get paid to be a doula in Colorado
Health First Colorado has reimbursed doulas for their care of Medicaid clients since July 2024. HFC pays up to $1,500 per client. To bill it, you need training from a state-approved organization. DTI is one of the choices.
$900
Flat rate paid per labor & birth$1,500
Maximum billable per client, including prenatal and postpartum visits40%
Share of all Colorado births covered by Health First ColoradoTwo ways in, depending on what you've already done.
Health First credentials doulas who've trained with an organization on its approved list. But if you trained elsewhere, you don't have to start over.
Online Full Spectrum Doula Training
Birth, postpartum, and reproductive health support in one program. Self-paced modules plus live classes virtually with a DTI educator. Most people finish the coursework in about 3 months. Or you can choose one of our select in-person trainings.
- Trained DTI doulas are eligible to certify as a birth, postpartum, and reproductive health doula
- Once complete, certified for life: no recertification required
Cross Certification Pathway
For doulas whose training organization isn't on Health First Colorado's approved list, or whose certification lapsed. Provide proof of your prior training and certify with DTI instead of repeating a full program.
- Two key DTI course modules, plus your existing proof-of-training
- Same lifetime certification, same approved-org status
- Built for doulas already attending births
Five steps to complete before you can begin billing.
Complete the sequence in order. Most of the confusion about this process happens when doulas try to enroll as a provider before they have completed the state requirements.
Train with an approved organization
Colorado's certification pathway requires training from an organization on the state's approved list. DTI has been on it since the benefit launched.
Attend three birthswithin 5 years
The state wants three births attended in your role as a doula within the last five years. DTI's own certification requires client work too, so the same births count toward both.
Get your paperwork current
Current adult and child CPR, professional or liability insurance, a registered business, a Type 1 individual NPI, and a background check through IdentoGO. Your doula taxonomy code is 374J00000X.
Sign the attestation and enroll
You attest to the certification you've completed, agree to the Doula Code of Conduct, and enroll as provider type 79 with Health First Colorado.
Bill
Claims are due within 365 days of service. Clean claims typically pay within about two weeks.
The Billing Process
Two billing codes cover everything a doula does under this benefit. Prenatal and postpartum visits are billed in 15-minute units. Labor and delivery is a flat fee.
Health First Colorado doula benefit
per member pregnancy| Code | Service | Rate | Covered maximum |
|---|---|---|---|
| T1032 | Prenatal support, billed per 15 minutes | $25 / unit | 12 units · $300 |
| T1032 | Postpartum support, billed per 15 minutes | $25 / unit | 12 units · $300 |
| T1033 | Labor and delivery, flat fee per birth | $900 flat | 1 birth · $900 |
| Total billable per client | $1,500 | ||
Rates and unit maximums as published by the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing. Subject to change.
Note: Doulas should submit their full, normal rate, even if it is higher than $1,500. (If Health First were to have a rate increase approved that is effective retroactively, HF would only reimburse what you billed, not your usual rate.)
The DTI full-spectrum program is $1,297. One Medicaid client, billed across prenatal visits, the birth, and postpartum visits, brings you $1,500. If you support three clients at their birth in one year, your take-home pay will be $2,700, even if you don't bill for the prenatal and postpartum visits.
Credentialing states want to make sure the doulas they are reimbursing are properly trained. This is the major reason entities like Health First have created an approved training program list.
What Health First Colorado does not guarantee
- Training alone does not let you bill. You are not paid by Medicaid until you finish enrollment as a Health First Colorado provider, which is a separate process run by the state.
- Nobody assigns you clients. Medicaid coverage means the families you find can pay you. Finding them is still your work, and DTI's business curriculum and community are built for that.
- The three-birth requirement takes time. Most people are looking at several months between finishing coursework and submitting an attestation.
- Rates change. The figures on this page come from the state's published materials and should be verified against the current fee schedule.
There are two ways to qualify
Colorado credentials doulas without an approved training, but the bar is significantly higher.
- Training from an approved organization, which DTI is
- Three births attended in the last five years
- Current CPR
- Agreement to the Doula Code of Conduct
- Ten births attended, with five in the last two years
- Four letters of recommendation, two from birth professionals and two from past clients
- Documented competency across twelve knowledge areas
- Current CPR and the same Code of Conduct