Forty-two percent of Colorado hospitals are failing to comply with a state law designed to protect patient rights and expand access to care, according to a recent report from the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative.
To protect Coloradans from high levels of medical debt, the state legislature passed the Hospital Discounted Care bill in 2021. The law mandates healthcare facilities screen uninsured patients for eligibility for discounted care programs.
After receiving multiple allegations of noncompliance, the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative investigated 89 hospitals in the state from June to October 2024.
The organization reviewed each hospital's website and found all sites mentioned the Hospital Discounted Care law and posted the Spanish HDC Patient's Rights form. However, only 58% of hospitals fully adhered to website requirements, and half did not distinguish HDC from other financial assistance programs.
Researchers also made "secret shopper" calls to each hospital, once in Spanish and once in English. Of 178 phone calls, only 11% resulted in accurate and helpful information about the law. Additionally, 29% of the calls failed to meet compliance with HDC regulations.
"Callers frequently ran into long hold times, were told to leave a voicemail and got disconnected when they were attempting to speak with a hospital representative," the report said. "System-owned hospitals appear to favor long wait times while independent hospitals more often opt for voicemail systems."
The Colorado Consumer Health Initiative concluded that hospitals should immediately remove any administrative barriers to HDC compliance and train all patient-facing staff to enhance adherence to the law.