DENVER (KDVR) — A bipartisan group of lawmakers want to provide $5 million to Denver Health, which has been struggling since the pandemic.
According to the bill, it’s important for the health of Coloradans that Denver Health is financially sustainable.
Denver Health is a safety net hospital that provides care to uninsured and underinsured patients. 50% of their patients are on Medicaid and more than 13% are uninsured.
In 2022, Denver Health provided $120 million in uncompensated care — a number that’s doubled since 2020.
“Unfortunately, Denver Health lost over $35 million due to the significant proportion of patients we take care of without health insurance,” said Dr. Steve Federico, Denver Health Chief of Government and Community Affairs.
“This $5 million will be an investment in our work moving forward to continue to take care of patients who lack insurance.”
According to Federico, a lot of people delayed care during the pandemic. Now patients are coming in sick, driving up the cost of care. The City and County of Denver provide $30 million each year, however, the hospital says that’s not nearly enough.
“Obviously, you can’t run a business of $1.3 billion the size of our hospital system if you don’t have money in the bank for the next month, the next two months, the next three months,” Federico said.
The hospital serves patients from 63 of the 64 counties in the state. About a third of patients come from outside Denver, which puts an additional strain on the hospital.
Right now, the hospital has about 85 days of cash on hand as revenues dropped during the pandemic.
“I think our current lawmakers have an in-depth knowledge of the crisis that we’re seeing on the heels of COVID as it relates to patients that lack health insurance,” Federico said.
The funding is still waiting for approval.