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“Colorado hospitals recognize that the cost of health care has become unsustainable for many Coloradans, and we hope that this two-year reinsurance program – largely funded by hospitals – is effective in providing needed relief for patients from high insurance costs,” said Katherine Mulready, senior vice president and chief strategy officer, CHA. “The price of health insurance includes both the premiums and the copay and deductible costs, so this can’t just be about reducing premiums while insurers continue to raise out-of-pocket costs on Coloradans. We trust that the Polis Administration and the Insurance Commissioner will make sure insurers follow the law and that savings from reinsurance are fully passed on to consumers.”

“We appreciate a report that includes a discussion about quality and patient safety as part of the conversation about affordability,” said Steven J. Summer, president and CEO, CHA. “Connecting cost with quality is essential for patients seeking information about where to receive care. However, we do have some concerns about the conclusions reached in this report and would encourage employers to be careful when using this information.”

Colorado Hospital Association (CHA) announced that its long-tenured President and CEO Steven J. Summer will retire at the end of the year. Summer assumed the role in 2006 after serving previously at the West Virginia Hospital Association and the Maryland Hospital Association. Chris Tholen, CHA executive vice president, will assume the role of CHA President and CEO on Jan. 1, 2020. Tholen was selected by a succession planning committee of the CHA Board of Trustees and received the full approval of the CHA Board earlier this year. He joined CHA in 2013 as the vice president of financial policy and chief financial officer after serving in a variety of roles at Kaiser Permanente.

Colorado Hospital Association Shared Services is pleased to announce a new partnership with A-1 Collection Agency, a sister company of Western Healthcare Alliance, to be the preferred provider of bad debt collection services for CHA member hospitals and health systems.

“Given the recent measles outbreak across the country, and the impact that has had not just on patient safety and public health – but also on health care costs, this is an ideal time to recognize the importance of vaccines in our health care system,” said Steven Summer, president and CEO, CHA. “CHA and its member hospitals support HB 19-1312 because we believe it will improve our state’s vaccination rates. This legislation is based on proven efforts to improve immunization rates, and vaccines are cost-effective and evidence-based way to prevent diseases in our communities.

This legislative session, CHA has helped develop Senate Bill 19-073, sponsored by Sen. Joann Ginal and Rep. Lois Landgraf, which would require the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to create and administer a new statewide electronic advance medical directives system, making them available to hospitals and health care providers through the state’s two health information exchanges. Colorado’s new system would be modeled after the many other states that have implemented a statewide electronic advance directives registry that allows providers to see a person’s wishes for medical treatment, regardless of where the person is seeking care and if he or she has provided a copy of the advance directives for the medical staff.

CHA was recently awarded a grant from the COPIC Medical Foundation to further its efforts to end the opioid epidemic in Colorado through the Colorado’s Opioid Solution: Clinicians United to Resolve the Epidemic (CO’s CURE). The CO’s CURE initiative aims to bring together the clinician/physician specialty societies of Colorado to develop the nation’s first comprehensive, multispecialty medical guidelines to address and resolve the opioid epidemic in Colorado.

Colorado Hospital Association and its member hospitals and health systems are committed to improving the affordability of health care in Colorado. The Association has worked diligently with the Gov. Polis Administration and Reps. Julie McCluskie (D-Dillon) and Janice Rich (R-Grand Junction) and Sens. Kerry Donovan (D-Vail) and Bob Rankin (R-Carbondale) on this year’s reinsurance proposal – House Bill 19-1168. This work was focused on developing a reinsurance program that could successfully reduce premiums for Coloradans without causing unintended consequences for Colorado’s providers, including hospitals. CHA has moved to neutral on this bill, with the anticipated adoption of amendments that will be introduced in the House on Friday, modifying the funding mechanism for the proposed reinsurance program.