FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 1, 2024
Contact: Kat Gruschow Kgruschow@cohealthinitiative.org, (720)506-9010
Jenny Davies, 720-296-9545, jenny@progressive-promotions.com
Consumer Advocates Hopeful New Requirements Will Make Hospital Bills More Transparent, And Protect From Surprise Facility Fees
Today’s new requirements begin common-sense protections against hospital ‘facility fees’
DENVER – Consumer advocates are celebrating new protections that begin today, with new requirements to bring transparency to hospital ‘facility fees’. House Bill 23-1215 created this plan to make facility fees more transparent with required notices to consumers, place common-sense limits on facility fees for preventive care, and require a third-party report on their impact on hospitals and consumers.
“I’m optimistic these new requirements will make hospital billing more transparent and help save Coloradans money on health care. We especially want to see common-sense limits on hospital facility fees,” said Kat Gruschow, advocacy coordinator at the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative (CCHI). “Patients all across Colorado are getting hit with unexpected facility fees of hundreds or thousands of dollars with no clear explanation, no warning, and no recourse after they’ve already paid for medical services. Many Coloradans end up paying these fees out-of-pocket because they are not well understood or universally covered by insurance. These unexplained charges are a major barrier to affordable health care that can drain a family’s bank account, and Coloradans are being forced to pay these fees more and more often as large hospital systems merge, buy up clinics across our state, and tack on facility fees where they were not charged before.”
Facility fees are charges that are being imposed on patients, often by large hospital systems that own freestanding clinics and providers. They can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars in addition to the charges for actual health services and typically come as a surprise to the patient when they receive a bill.
“My family was totally shocked to receive a facility fee for over $2,500 that we were expected to pay out-of-pocket after taking our son to see a specialist for his seizures, even though the provider we visited was in-network,” said Ben Los of Colorado Springs. “I am hopeful that the transparency components of HB 1215 will make it so families like mine aren’t blindsided by $2,500 in hospital charges.”
In addition to requiring a third-party report that will provide important data, HB 1215 promotes transparency and affordability by requiring that patients be notified of facility fee charges in advance of appointments and prohibiting facility fees for preventive services, which are already required to be no-cost for patients under the Affordable Care Act.
“As a physician, I welcome these transparency requirements that will help protect patients from surprise charges. With the new requirements for clear, upfront notifications about facility fees, both in English and Spanish, and with required itemized, standardized billing, our patients will be better able to protect themselves from high healthcare costs. This is a win for all Coloradans, ensuring that our health care system is more accessible, equitable, and accountable,” said Dr. Chet Cedars, retired family medicine physician in Greenwood Village and member of the Committee to Protect Health Care.
“Small businesses are hopeful that Colorado’s new hospital facility fee transparency requirement will help bring down the astronomical cost of healthcare,” said Hunter Nelson, Colorado Director for Small Business Majority. “Although this new law is an important step forward, more must be done to reduce healthcare expenses for small businesses. Our research has shown that small businesses are drowning in health benefits costs, with more than half of small business owners reporting that they’ve been forced to increase employee contributions to their health plans and nearly half scaling back their coverage offerings in recent months. No small business owner wants to cut benefits, and if more isn’t done to help lower healthcare costs, small firms will struggle to compete for talent with larger businesses that can more easily absorb the high cost of healthcare.”
“Patients deserve transparent and affordable health care but too often receive surprise bills for facility fees,” said Austin Blumenfeld, Executive Director of Centennial State Prosperity. “These new requirements will increase transparency and help hardworking Coloradans save money on their health care and make informed decisions as consumers.”
While Colorado families struggle to afford basic health care, a report from the Colorado Department on Health Care Policy and Financing found that overall, hospital patient revenues have grown faster than operating expenses leading to growing profits and margins, and that Colorado hospitals are providing more services through outpatient than inpatient settings. As facility fees proliferate into outpatient settings, this is increasing their impact on Coloradans and their ability to afford the care they need.
Colorado Consumer Health Initiative (CCHI) is a nonprofit, consumer-oriented, membership-based health advocacy organization that serves Coloradans whose access to health care and financial security are compromised by structural barriers, affordability, poor benefits, or unfair business practices of the healthcare industry. CCHI’s mission is to advance the consumer voice to improve access to health care for all Coloradans by working statewide for progress toward equity, affordability, and quality.
###