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Legislative health-care debates commence in the 75th General Assembly
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State, The Sum & Substance

Legislative health-care debates commence in the 75th General Assembly

By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance Several health-care bills — including two scheduled for their first hearings this week — are set to reignite the debate this legislative session on whether the benefits of greater coverage mandates are equal to the greater costs they’ll bring. And it won’t be just insurance issues that will occupy legislators’ discussions on health care this year. Regulation of a federal drug-pricing program, Medicaid-generated budget problems and the fate of the state’s largest workers’ compensation insurer all are on the table, causing legislators to have to think deeply about why health-care spending is rising and what impacts they can have on businesses and consumers. On Wednesday, a House committee will discuss a bill that seeks to require health benef...
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Front Range hospitals grow while Colorado’s rural hospitals, Denver Health struggle financially
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CBS Colorado, State

Front Range hospitals grow while Colorado’s rural hospitals, Denver Health struggle financially

By Christa Swanson | CBS Colorado On Sunday, the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF) released a report on the financial health of Colorado's hospitals. While some are showing financial strength, others appear to be struggling. The department's annual report measures hospital profits, reserves, costs, expenses and the level of community benefit that tax-exempt hospitals offer their communities in place of paying taxes. "These reports provide valuable insights for Coloradans into where their money is going within health care. Hospital revenue growth represents a rapidly increasing part of the overall health care dollar," HCPF Executive Director Kim Bimestefer said. "The billion-dollar annual increase shown in this report is reflected in the insurance prem...
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UnitedHealthcare covers double mastectomies for 17-year-olds with gender dysphoria
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National, The Daily Signal

UnitedHealthcare covers double mastectomies for 17-year-olds with gender dysphoria

By Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell  | The Daily Signal America’s largest health insurance company covers double mastectomies for some 17-year-old girls who identify as transgender. UnitedHealthcare’s “Gender Dysphoria Treatment” guide, which took effect Dec. 1, says: “For mastectomy or breast reduction, individuals must be at least 18 years of age; however, individuals within one calendar year of turning 18 can be considered on a case-by-case basis.” UnitedHealthcare didn’t immediately respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment on the circumstances in which the health insurance company would cover double mastectomies for minors or how often it makes exceptions. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE DAILY SIGNAL
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Denver considers $1M contract with Denver Health for homeless response
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coloradopolitics.com, Local

Denver considers $1M contract with Denver Health for homeless response

By Noah Festenstein | Colorado Politics, via Denver Gazette The Denver City Council on Monday will consider a $1 million contract to better utilize the city’s hospital system for homeless response efforts. If approved on second reading Monday, Denver Health will receive $990,900 from the city to become more involved with homeless response efforts and Roads to Recovery until at least Sept. 30, 2026. The money is planned to “support and strengthen existing internal infrastructure focused on partnerships with Denver homelessness resolution partners and the Roads to Recovery project to better align housing and health supports for some of the most at-risk persons experiencing homelessness,” city officials said in the council’s resolution request. READ THE FULL STORY AT COLORADO POLI...
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Health insurance prices for some in Colorado will go up next year, an average of 5.6%
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State, The Colorado Sun

Health insurance prices for some in Colorado will go up next year, an average of 5.6%

By John Ingold | The Colorado Sun Health insurance prices in Colorado are set to climb again next year on the whole, but by a below-average amount, according to final, approved rates released Thursday. But, as is often the case in health insurance, that doesn’t necessarily mean your insurance prices are going to go up for 2025. In fact, Thursday’s rates apply only to a subset of people who have private insurance coverage. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Report on hospital facility fees could stir new health-care regulatory efforts
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State, The Sum & Substance

Report on hospital facility fees could stir new health-care regulatory efforts

By Ed Sealover | The Sum & Substance A legislatively mandated report on hospital-system facility fees that was released Tuesday appears likely to spark a new round of debate on whether the state should limit the fees that opponents call costly and unclear and that hospitals say are vital to offsite operations. The Hospital Facility Fee Report concluded that the fees, added for services in nonacute-care settings, drive up health-care costs by more than $50 million annually, are opaque and confusing and incentivize independent physicians to affiliate with larger hospital systems. However, the report also notes that a reduction in fee revenue could drastically cut the federal matching money that’s been used to expand Medicaid eligibility, and it noted several times that the task for...
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Denver Health Medical Center wants voters to approve a sales tax to help with funding pinch
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CBS Colorado, Local

Denver Health Medical Center wants voters to approve a sales tax to help with funding pinch

By Alan Gionet | CBS Colorado Times have been getting tougher and tougher in health care. It shows up in the copays, the bills and now Colorado hospitals are facing a crisis.  "Reimbursement is down everywhere partly because we have an increase in the number of uninsured patients across the country," said Denver Health's CEO Donna Lynne. Lynne went before a Denver City Council committee Wednesday to ask them to advance a ballot question to Denver voters requesting a sales tax hike. The increase would be devoted to help pay cost shortages and would cost shoppers an extra 3.4 cents on a $10 purchase. It would mean an estimated $70 million to help meet the rising cost of running the services of the hospital, including emergency services, paramedics, clinics and other operations. T...
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1,400 patients of a Western Slope clinic still struggle to find care a month after its abrupt closure
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The Colorado Sun, Western Slope

1,400 patients of a Western Slope clinic still struggle to find care a month after its abrupt closure

By Tatiana Flowers | Colorado Sun Former clients of a Delta-based clinic that shut down early last month are still looking for mental and physical health care on the rural Western Slope. Sixty people were referred to Axis Health System last month and one former client said she has found better health care options since Integrated Insight Community Care closed last month.  But some of the 1,400 other clients said they fear they’re facing a crisis, because there are too few mental and physical health care providers available in their area who take Medicaid, and can care for people with complex and specialized needs. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE COLORADO SUN
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Parents of medically fragile kids can’t find nurses because the pay is so low. They want Colorado lawmakers to step in. 
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State, The Colorado Sun

Parents of medically fragile kids can’t find nurses because the pay is so low. They want Colorado lawmakers to step in. 

By Jennifer Brown | Colorado Sun Nurses willing to care for medically fragile children and adults — including patients who use feeding tubes, can’t walk or speak, and rarely leave their homes — are hard to find in Colorado.  Amid a statewide nursing shortage so dire that even state mental institutions offer $14,000 signing bonuses, the lowest-paying nursing positions are going unfilled. That means many parents who have relied on “private duty nurses” for in-home care for their children and adult children are getting no help.  Colorado’s Medicaid program reimburses the agencies that employ these in-home nurses at some of the lowest rates in the nation, according to the Home Care and Hospice Association of Colorado. The rate for registered nurses in Colorado is $...
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Yuma District Hospital will draw on reserve fund to cover $2.5M operating loss
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Eastern Plains, Local, Yuma Pioneer

Yuma District Hospital will draw on reserve fund to cover $2.5M operating loss

By Yuma Pioneer Yuma District Hospital has been authorized by the board of directors to access up to $2 million of the district’s investments to help cover operations cost. The move came during the YDH Board’s regular monthly meeting on January 24. Interim CEO Ted Beckman made the request to board members Monica King, Mitch Korf, Delaina Klein and De Ann Rawson Sewell. Board member Robert Dorothy was absent. It had been addressed earlier in the meeting when an employee voiced her concerns about the hospital district operating at a $2.5 million loss. She added she was anxious to hear where the the process is in regards to hiring a permanent CEO. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE YUMA PIONEER
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