Letter to the Editor at The Denver Post
Re: “Colorado hospitals have the profits to help more patients financially” (Dec. 16, 2025)

Your editorial on health care affordability raises real concerns, but it oversimplifies hospital finances and draws misleading conclusions that undermine access to care. The report cited relies on total margin figures that mask serious financial distress at many Colorado hospitals.

CHA’s Q2 2025 Colorado Hospital Update shows that nearly 70% of hospitals have unsustainable margins, meaning most cannot absorb additional financial burdens without cutting services or staff. Rural hospitals face even greater strain, with more than 80% operating with minimal or no margins.

The editorial overlooks ways hospitals work together to support patients statewide. Health systems partner with rural hospitals to provide specialty and acute care while keeping care local whenever possible – and in some cases, collaboration is the only way to preserve access. Parkview Health System and Estes Park Health asked to join UCHealth after financial losses left them with few options to sustain care in their communities.

Hospitals also funded millions of dollars for a safety net provider stabilization fund and continue to provide significantly more charity care, with 30% increases annually since 2021, as more Coloradans go uninsured. Calls for greater “transparency” ignore the 500 pages of financial information per hospital reported yearly to the state.

We share the goal of supporting patients, but solutions must reflect the full financial realities facing hospitals, or we risk reducing access to care for the very communities we aim to protect.

Sincerely,

Jeff Tieman
President & CEO
Colorado Hospital Association