Lawmakers pull provider fee bill back from the brink, negotiations continue

The state Capitol erupted this morning in dueling press conferences as lawmakers worked to salvage a deal that would convert the state’s hospital provider fee program into a government-owned business, freeing up millions of dollars for state spending.

The bill, known as Sustainability of Rural Colorado, would change the provider fee, a program that funds health care for low-income Coloradans, into an enterprise, or government-owned business. Doing so would keep the state from reaching constitutionally mandated revenue limits, allowing Colorado to bring in more money to pay for such things as education and transportation projects. Also included in the bill, a “Christmas tree” of dollars for rural schools, transportation, higher education and small business.

The bill is in its “Golden Hour,” said Steve Summer, CEO of the Colorado Hospital Association, referring to the hour after a critical injury or medical emergency when a person needs to reach life-saving care. Summer and the CEOs of Denver Health and Children’s Hospital applauded the work already done by lawmakers and encouraged them to get the bill to the finish line. “Time is of the essence,” Summer added. “Lives are at stake.”

If the bill doesn’t pass, as many as a dozen rural hospitals could close and other hospitals will have to cut back on services and medical programs for low-income Coloradans who currently rely on Medicaid and provider-fee dollars to pay for those services, according to the hospital executives.

Read more: http://www.coloradoindependent.com/165195/colorado-hospital-provider-fee-tabor