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In the 2019 legislative session, Colorado Hospital Association (CHA) is helping bring forward legislation to create a new licensure category through the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment for freestanding emergency departments (FSEDs). The Association is pursuing this effort to help address concerns from consumers, legislators and stakeholders in recent years about the proliferation of FSEDs and their billing practices.

Colorado Hospital Association and its 110 member hospitals and health systems congratulate Governor-elect Polis and the transition team on their Cabinet nominations. Specifically, CHA congratulates Kim Bimestefer on being nominated as Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing.

“In recent years, Colorado has made great strides in improving coverage and access to care for all Coloradans,” Steven J. Summer, CHA president and CEO, said. “With a record low uninsured rate, we are beginning to see the system work as it should – with people accessing preventive and primary care and not just relying on the hospital emergency department for care when medical conditions become emergent. Anything that sets us back from that progress – which we believe this proposal has the potential to do – should be reconsidered.”

CHA has received national recognition for outstanding performance in driving quality care, safety and value across its network of hospitals. The HRET HIIN Quality Award honors outstanding achievement in creating a culture of patient safety, delivering value and executing evidence-based practices as part of day-to-day operations. CHA has 50 Colorado hospitals participating in the Hospital Improvement Innovation Network (HIIN) initiative, which focuses on reducing patient harm through a number of patient safety and quality improvement efforts. The Association was also recognized for its effort to reduce opioid administrations in hospital emergency departments through the Colorado ALTO Project.

Colorado Hospital Association and its member hospitals and health systems would like to thank Senators Cheri Jahn and Kevin Priola and Representative Brittany Pettersen, for their leadership in sponsoring House Bill 18-1136. This landmark legislation, which passed the Senate unanimously on third reading this morning will close a gap in coverage for Coloradans long-struggling with substance abuse disorders. As a result, individuals insured by Medicaid will have consistent coverage of physical and behavioral health conditions for the first time.

“We applaud the focus on continuing to improve health outcomes as is often included in value-based payments models, but believe that to create a truly affordable health care model, the total cost of care must be managed.” said Steven Summer, CHA president and CEO. “The Association believes that to be truly successful, the blueprint will need to ensure its scope on payment reform includes state, federal and private sector payers and needs to include all components of health care.”

CHA released results of the Colorado Opioid Safety Pilot. Beginning in June 2017, CHA and its member hospitals conducted a six-month pilot in eight Colorado hospital emergency departments (EDs) and two freestanding emergency departments (FSEDs) with the goal of reducing the administration of opioids by ED clinicians. This initiative, one of the largest opioid research efforts in the United States, used treatment guidelines developed by the Colorado Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians (Colorado ACEP) that recommend the use of alternatives to opioids (ALTOs) as a first-line treatment for pain rather than opioids.

All participating members successfully implemented the pilot, which returned remarkable results. The EDs achieved a 36 percent reduction in opioid administrations when compared to the same time period in 2016, far surpassing the original pilot goal of a 15 percent reduction. This amounted to a projection of 35,000 fewer individual opioid administrations between the 2017 pilot and the 2016 baseline period.