Colorado Could Decrease Amount of Indigent Care Funds Hospitals Receive
As a way to save money, the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Finance on Dec. 17 suggested to the Legislature's Joint Budget Committee changing the formula that determines how much hospitals receive for treating indigent patients, the Denver Post reports. University of Colorado Hospital officials said that if the change is approved, the hospital will lose $700,000 in funds (Denver Post, 12/18). The hospital treats the second-highest number of indigent patients in the state. Denver Health Medical Center provides the most indigent care in the state; under the proposed formula change, its indigent care funds would drop by less than 1%, compared with a 2.5% decrease for University Hospital (Scanlon, Denver Rocky Mountain News, 12/18). Denver-based Children's Hospital Chief Financial Officer Leonard Dryer said the facility could lose up to $3 million in funds (Denver Post, 12/18). In addition, Denver-based National Jewish Medical and Research Center could lose up to $575,000 in funds, according to CFO Christine Forkner (Denver Rocky Mountain News, 12/18).
Treating Fewer Patients
University Hospital plans to deal with the expected loss of funds by limiting the number of indigent patients it treats and focusing on treating the sickest people (Denver Post, 12/18). Already, the number of indigent patients University Hospital treats has decreased, falling by about 3,000 this year (Denver Rocky Mountain News, 12/18). Over the past two years, the hospital's volume of indigent patients has dropped 25%, from 56,401 in 2000 to 42,547 in 2002, despite an increase in funds to treat the indigent from $29.1 million in 2000 to $34.6 million in 2002. Hospitals officials and doctors said that the decrease in indigent patients is related to increasing costs of providing care and lower reimbursements from private and public health plans (Sherry, Denver Post, 12/17). CEO Dennis Brimhall said, "We're seeing fewer patients, but sicker patients. ... We're just going to try the best we can with what resources are given us. There's no way I can beat up the state with this. We understand they're in a real difficult budget situation" (Denver Rocky Mountain News, 12/18).
