DENVER — Denver Health's CEO said the hospital is at a critical point. The health care provider helps everyone - even people who cannot pay. Now the hospital is running out of money.
The cost to treat patients who don't have insurance has doubled since 2020, but the City of Denver won't be sending the hospital more money for uncompensated costs under new mayor Mike Johnston's plan.
"Our hospital has the largest percentage of uninsured patients. And 50% of our patients are Medicaid for which we do not receive adequate reimbursement," said Denver Health CEO Dr. Donna Lynne at a budget hearing earlier this month.
20% of patients at Denver Health are unhoused, which often results in longer stays at the hospital for non-medical reasons. Last year Denver Health saw 7,300 homeless patients and provided over 29,000 services.
Dr. Lynne told city council members the cost of uncompensated care is going up. In 2023, the hospital expects the overall cost to help uninsured patients will be around $136 million. The mayor's budget proposal to help pay for that care would be around $30 million. That allocation from the city has stayed relatively the same since at least 2017, according to a presentation from Denver Health.
"There is a major structural gap here in the funding structure and we as the city are not going to fill a $100 million gap but we do need to figure out what the long term plan is for this," said Mayor Mike Johnston.
Johnston seemed eager to find other funding opportunities, like talking to other counties to help the state's only safety net hospital. Dr. Lynne still wasn't shy to ask Denver for more money.
"This budget will not only make it challenging to recruit or retain critical health care employees but provide the level of services our city deserves," said Dr. Lynne.
Services the mayor is looking at focus on the unhoused, as teams move people living on the streets into temporary housing. After some tough years, Denver Health said the current budget will make it harder to help.
"In our view, this budget does not fully recognize the work we do," said Dr. Lynne.
One councilmember asked about the possibility of adding a tax increase to the ballot. Denver Health said no decision has been made, but it is something they are evaluating.
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