Colorado Agrees To Pay Community Health Plan of the Rockies $14M To Settle Alleged Medicaid Underpayments

Colorado has agreed to pay the now-defunct Community Health Plan of the Rockies $14 million to settle claims that its Medicaid program underpaid the HMO, the Denver Post reports. Since 2000, four HMOs have filed lawsuits seeking a total of about $150 million from the state's Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, which administers Medicaid (Austin, Denver Post, 1/9). In October, Colorado agreed to pay Kaiser Permanente $10 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that the state's Medicaid program knowingly underpaid the health plan by $14 million between 1996 and 2001. Rocky Mountain HMO has also won payments from the state. Three other groups -- Colorado Access, a not-for-profit Medicaid HMO; the Denver Health Medical Center; and the University of Colorado Hospital -- are in negotiations with the state on back payments of $100 million (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 10/27/03). Community Health Plan will use the settlement funds to pay off debts to physicians and hospitals, according to the Post (Denver Post, 1/9).