A Colorado budget proposal that includes state spending cuts could mean service reductions and layoffs at some hospitals, reports The Denver Post.
Here are six things to know.
1. The latest budget proposal includes a $264 million cut in state funding from the provider fee program, according to the report. Taking into account federal matching funds, the total cut would be $528 million.
2. Due to this proposal, approximately 12 hospitals are slated to lose millions in state funding from the program, according to the report. A number of other Colorado hospitals are slated to lose program funding as well.
3. For instance, a new analysis from the Colorado Hospital Association shows Denver Health Medical Center could lose approximately $53 million, while Denver-based HealthOne Presbyterian/St. Luke's Medical Center is slated to lose approximately $10 million and Children's Hospital Colorado in Aurora may lose approximately $17 million.
"If you don't change anything that you are doing, meaning cut back programs or adjust, it's essentially a bottom-line cut," Jamie Smith, the CEO at Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver, which stands to see a $7 million reduction in payments, told The Denver Post.
4. If passed, the budget cuts are expected to have a particularly significant effect on rural hospitals. According to the report, the Colorado Hospital Association identified at least 10 hospitals in mostly rural areas as at risk for reductions in services, staff or facility upgrades.
5. But The Denver Post also cites a separate state analysis which projects less significant cuts to some hospitals.
6. One driver of the proposed state funding cuts is the provider fee program is causing state revenues to exceed the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights cap, and other areas could face cuts unless the state cuts provider fee program spending, according to the report.
Read the full report here.
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