DENVER (AP) - The Latest on a new Colorado hospital transparency law (all times local):
2:35 p.m.
A new Colorado law requires hospitals to report their annual operating costs to the state in an effort to help contain rising health care costs.
Gov. Jared Polis signed the bipartisan legislation into law on Thursday.
The transparency law is key to Polis’ campaign to increase price transparency and curb both medical costs and insurance premiums. It’s designed to allow policymakers to address problem areas driving up prices.
Polis’ health care agenda includes creating a state reinsurance program to help private insurers lower premiums; exploring a public health insurance option; and determining the feasibility of importing cheaper prescription drugs from Canada, among other measures.
The Department of Health Care Policy and Financing will issue an annual report incorporating the hospital data beginning in 2020.
___
11:40 a.m.
Colorado hospitals will be required to report their annual spending and operational expenses as part of an effort to curb health care prices under a bill about to become law.
The bipartisan legislation is key to Gov. Jared Polis’ efforts to reduce health care costs and increase price transparency in a state whose rural residents often pay some of the nation’s highest insurance rates.
The first-term Democratic governor was to sign the bill Thursday.
Polis’ health care agenda includes creating a state reinsurance program to help private insurers lower premiums; exploring a public health insurance option; and determining the feasibility of importing cheaper prescription drugs from Canada, among other measures.
The Department of Health Care Policy and Financing will issue an annual report incorporating the hospital data beginning in 2020.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.