Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: UCHealth

Medicaid Cuts Raise Alarm for Colorado Hospitals Already on Thin Margins
Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Medicaid Cuts Raise Alarm for Colorado Hospitals Already on Thin Margins

By Nico Brambila | Colorado Politics The $900 billion in Medicaid cuts over the next decade could threaten the viability of more than 400 hospitals nationally and at least nine in Colorado, a new report has found. The hospitals span the Front Range and rural communities, from Denver Health — the region’s primary safety-net provider — to smaller hospitals in places like Leadville, Lamar and Fort Morgan, reflecting the mounting pressure across both urban and rural health systems. “The cuts will be devastating to many low-income and disabled individuals who rely on Medicaid,” the report said. “Moreover, they will have knock-on effects on hospitals that disproportionately serve these communities, deepening the financial strain already plaguing rural and sa...
UCHealth Under Fire After Inspectors Discover Contaminated Surgical Equipment
The Independent, Approved, Local

UCHealth Under Fire After Inspectors Discover Contaminated Surgical Equipment

By: Erin Keller | The Independent The hospital had to take drastic steps after the incident State inspectors have revealed that UCHealth’s University of Colorado Hospital’s week-long shutdown of nonemergency surgeries came after they found dozens of contaminated surgical instruments caked with dried blood and tissue around the facility. In July, inspectors uncovered a massive backlog of uncleaned tools, prompting the hospital to halt all nonemergency surgeries from July 16 to July 25 while safety violations were addressed. The inspection, triggered by a formal complaint, found 17 stainless steel carts in the hospital’s sterile processing department (SPD) bearing between 11 and 30 trays of dirty surgical instruments each. Additional carts we...
Uncompensated care meets 340B: Colorado’s numbers force a reckoning
Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, State, Top Stories

Uncompensated care meets 340B: Colorado’s numbers force a reckoning

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado now requires hospitals to open their books, but the reports still don’t show how 340B savings are used or how much uncompensated care is migrant-related. That gap has turned Colorado into a proving ground for reforms that define the patient, disclose the spread and require hospitals to prove the savings reach care. Colorado’s uncompensated care surge UCHealth says it is drowning under the weight of migrant care, reporting $17 million in uncompensated costs in just three months last year. Denver Health added another $10 million in the same surge, and a Common Sense Institute analysis put the metro total for emergency care at $48 million by late 2024, averaging $2,931 per encounter.  Colorado’s own ledger underscores the scale....
Kaiser Permanently Ends Gender Transition Services for Colorado Minors
Approved, denvergazette.com, State

Kaiser Permanently Ends Gender Transition Services for Colorado Minors

By Nicole C. Brambila | The Denver Gazette Citing pressure from the Trump administration, Kaiser Permanente is the latest health system to acquiesce to demands that it cease providing gender transition services to minors that includes chemical or surgical procedures. Kaiser CEO Greg A. Adams announced the change in an email to executives, saying “there has been significant focus by the federal government on gender-affirming care” for minors since President Donald Trump assumed office. “After significant deliberation and consultation with internal and external experts including our physicians, we’ve made the difficult decision to pause gender-affirming surgical treatment for patients under the age of 19 in our hospitals and surgical centers,” Adams said in the email. While the p...

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