Meg Wingerter – The Denver Post https://www.denverpost.com Colorado breaking news, sports, business, weather, entertainment. Sun, 08 Sep 2024 12:03:29 +0000 en-US hourly 30 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.1 https://www.denverpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/cropped-DP_bug_denverpost.jpg?w=32 Meg Wingerter – The Denver Post https://www.denverpost.com 32 32 111738712 Colorado’s flu season likely to be normal, but COVID is a “wild card” https://www.denverpost.com/2024/09/08/colorado-flu-covid-rsv-season-vaccines/ Sun, 08 Sep 2024 12:00:45 +0000 https://www.denverpost.com/?p=6604873 Clues from the Southern Hemisphere suggest Colorado has a relatively normal flu season ahead, but experts are less certain about how COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus will behave this fall and winter.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s forecasting center projected the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19, flu and RSV combined would be similar to what it was last year, or slightly lower, director Dr. Mandy Cohen said during a press briefing on Aug. 23.

But the projection could be off if the forecasters misjudged how many people will get vaccinated, she said. The CDC assumed vaccine uptake will be similar to last year, when fewer than half of adults got a flu shot and less than one-quarter got an updated COVID-19 vaccine.

“The power is in our hands,” she said.

Typically, flu season in Colorado takes off in November and peaks in late December or January, which usually overlaps partially with a period of increased infections from RSV and COVID-19. Other viruses that cause common colds also circulate more widely in the fall and winter, but those three are responsible for most hospitalizations and deaths from respiratory infections.

The Southern Hemisphere’s flu season, which comes while the United States is experiencing summer, has followed the normal pattern, said Jenna Guthmiller, an assistant professor of immunology and microbiology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. While the respiratory season can be different in the Northern Hemisphere, the data points to a relatively ordinary year for flu, she said.

One possible exception to the normal pattern is that influenza B may make a late-season appearance, as it has since the pandemic, Guthmiller said.

A and B are the two major flu subtypes that infect humans. Traditionally, flu B primarily affected children, but now it seems to be making a broader range of people sick after influenza A’s seasonal peak, she said.

“We don’t really understand why,” Guthmiller said.

Dr. Michelle Barron, senior medical director of infection prevention and control at UCHealth, agreed that the flu season is likely to be relatively normal, but cautioned that significant numbers of people still get sick even in an ordinary year. About 20,000 to 25,000 Americans, mostly older adults and young children, die during a typical flu season, she said.

“Typical is good, in that it’s probably not going to overrun our (health care) resources,” she said.

Experts were less sure what to expect from COVID-19. Hospitalizations started rising in June, and have leveled out since mid-August. As of Tuesday, 146 people were in Colorado hospitals for the virus, which was higher than at the same point last year, but lower than in early September 2022.

If a significant number of people had the virus recently, that could mean the population has some immunity heading into the fall, when it typically spreads more widely, Barron said. But since the state and federal government are no longer tracking COVID-19 as closely, no one really knows how many people had a recent infection, she said.

“COVID’s still my wild card,” she said.

Outpatient visits for COVID-19 went up over the summer, and Dr. Amy Duckro, an infectious disease specialist at Kaiser Permanente Colorado, said she wouldn’t be surprised if they continue increasing through the fall. RSV and flu typically come later, so she doesn’t know what to expect from them yet based on clinic visits. Colorado doesn’t start tracking flu and RSV until October.

“It’s really difficult to predict what any respiratory season will bring, so the best thing you can do is be prepared,” she said.

Guthmiller, with the CU School of Medicine, agreed that a continuation of the late-summer COVID-19 wave is more likely than a drop-off at this point. While predicting what the virus will do is never easy, it looks likely to peak around the end-of-year holidays, as it usually does, she said.

The CDC forecasted two possible scenarios: one where COVID-19 cases keep rising and peak in early fall, and another where the summer wave is peaking now, and a second wave follows in the winter. Right now, the second scenario looks more likely, but they likely would produce similar amounts of severe illness and death, said Beth Carlton, chair of environmental and occupational health at the Colorado School of Public Health.

“What we really care about now is peak hospital demand across the three viruses,” to ensure the health care system can care for everyone who needs a bed, she said. “And then it’s, how we prevent people from becoming acutely ill or dying, and that’s vaccination, vaccination, vaccination.”

None of the experts predict anywhere close to the level of hospitalizations and deaths in the first years of the pandemic, unless an evolutionary leap produced a radically different variant. Other possibilities that would cause trouble include extremely low vaccine uptake, or the avian influenza currently circulating in cows adapting to spread between people, Carlton said.

RSV also appears likely to have a more-normal year after two abnormal seasons. Infections with RSV spiked in 2022 when children who hadn’t had their first infection during the period of masking and social distancing got it, alongside younger kids who would have gotten it anyway during that time, said Dr. Kevin Messacar, an infectious disease specialist at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Infections also were higher than usual last year, but not as high as in 2022.

“In 2023, we started to see a slow return toward normal,” he said. “We’d expect this year is going to look like a more typical RSV year.”

Relatively new shots to prevent RSV could be a “game-changer” for infants, who are at the highest risk of severe disease, Messacar said. The shots debuted last year, but relatively few people got them because they arrived late in the season, he said.

Women who are between 32 and 36 weeks of pregnancy and will give birth during RSV season can get vaccinated and pass the antibodies to their babies prenatally, Messacar said. When that timing doesn’t work out, or if the baby was born prematurely and the antibodies didn’t have a chance to transfer, they can get a product of lab-made antibodies to protect them through their first RSV season, he said. Kids who are at high risk of severe illness can also get the antibody drug during their second RSV season.

The virus frequently hospitalizes babies, because their tiny airways become inflamed and they need oxygen, Messacar said. In healthy adults and older children, it typically causes colds.

RSV “tends to fill up our hospitals with children needing respiratory support… and sometimes hydration,” he said.

Overall, it appears that the viruses are settling back down after the pandemic’s peak and measures to fight COVID-19 threw off their normal cycles, UCHealth’s Barron said. But even before COVID-19, viruses and bacteria would sometimes behave in unexpected ways, so people working in infectious disease have to be prepared in case they end up facing a worse-than-expected season, she said.

“It’s kind of like horse racing,” she said. “Occasionally, the long shot shows up.”

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6604873 2024-09-08T06:00:45+00:00 2024-09-08T06:03:29+00:00
Insurance plan mix-up left 20,000 Colorado Anthem customers out-of-network with UCHealth https://www.denverpost.com/2024/09/07/anthem-uchealth-connect-health-insurance-marketplace/ Sat, 07 Sep 2024 12:00:34 +0000 https://www.denverpost.com/?p=6605816 Thousands of Anthem BlueCross BlueShield customers who bought an insurance plan that said it included UCHealth got a surprise earlier this summer when they learned the health system actually wasn’t in-network.

Anthem sells two general types of plans on the individual marketplace: those labeled Pathway, which include UCHealth hospitals and doctors, and Pathway Essentials, which don’t. The plan description on the Connect for Health Colorado website mistakenly listed UCHealth as in-network for both types of plans.

Vince Plymell, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Insurance, said the division discovered the mistake earlier this year and required Anthem to reprocess some claims it billed as out-of-network, resulting in about $67,000 in refunds to customers. Anthem could face a fine of up to $500,000, though the division is holding off on the penalty while it assesses if the company is allowing patients to go to UCHealth at in-network rates, he said.

Mistakes like that are rare, and this one triggered an open enrollment period from May to July for people who want to switch plans, said Nina Schwartz, senior director of policy and external affairs at Connect for Health Colorado.

When patients go to an in-network provider, they pay an agreed-upon share of their care costs. If they go to an out-of-network provider, they can get stuck with a bill for the difference between the amount their insurer paid and their provider charged. Federal and state law prohibits such “surprise bills” in the case of emergencies, but not for scheduled care.

Dan Weaver, spokesman for UCHealth, said the system knew it wasn’t in-network with the Essentials plans, so the incorrect information had no effect on its operations. The system screens patients so they know if they’re going out-of-network for care, he said.

Anthem estimated about 20,000 people, out of roughly 1.5 million customers in Colorado, had purchased plans involved in the mix-up. It didn’t have information about how many had switched because of it. The company attributed the mistake to a computer error.

“The health of our members is our top priority and we worked quickly with Connect for Health Colorado and the Division of Insurance to correct this mistake,” spokeswoman Emily Snooks said in a statement.

Chris Citron, of Denver, said the news was confusing for her family. She manages an adult relative’s health insurance, and said she had chosen the plan specifically so her relative could stay with familiar doctors, who work at UCHealth.

“I was incredulous,” she said. “I thought that was bait-and-switch.”

The letter customers received said they could continue to see UCHealth doctors at in-network rates for the rest of the year if another provider had referred them to the health system. But Citron said it hasn’t worked out easily for her family so far. She called Anthem multiple times to verify that her relative’s appointment would be covered at in-network rates, but still got an out-of-network bill that she’s trying to sort out.

Ideally, she’d like to sign up with a new plan to keep UCHealth in-network for her relative next year, but isn’t sure if she’ll be able to find one. Most plans sold on the individual marketplace for Denver don’t include that health system.

“I’m really worried, because there are hardly any alternatives,” she said.

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6605816 2024-09-07T06:00:34+00:00 2024-09-07T13:12:31+00:00
When should I get flu and COVID shots? Experts disagree — but say get them however you can https://www.denverpost.com/2024/09/07/flu-covid-vaccine-colorado-shots/ Sat, 07 Sep 2024 12:00:14 +0000 https://www.denverpost.com/?p=6605428 Colorado experts differ in their recommendations about the best way to time your flu and COVID-19 shots, but they agree on one thing: People should do whatever results in them actually getting the vaccines.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that everyone 6 months and older get an annual flu shot and the newly approved and updated vaccines for COVID-19.

The guidance is more complicated for respiratory syncytial virus, with vaccination recommended for people over 75; those between 60 and 74 who have chronic conditions; and women between 32 and 36 weeks of pregnancy who will deliver during RSV season. Anyone who got the RSV shot last year doesn’t need another one, unless they became pregnant again and need to pass protection to a new baby.

People get the best immune response if they space out their flu and COVID-19 shots, but they need to consider if they will return to get another vaccine, or if they’re likely to forget or get busy, said Jenna Guthmiller, an assistant professor of immunology and microbiology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. She didn’t specify how far to space them out.

The shots are safe to get together.

“If it’s convenient for you to get them all at the same time, just do it,” she said. “Some protection is better than no protection.”

Ideally, people would get their shots around late October, since the flu typically takes off in the state near the end of the year, Guthmiller said.

Not everyone agrees that waiting is the best plan.

While some people like to time their shots closer to the holidays, getting them early ensures people won’t get sick or pass the viruses to others during the early weeks of respiratory season, said Dr. Amy Duckro, an infectious disease specialist at Kaiser Permanente Colorado. She personally likes to get the flu and COVID-19 shots together, so as to only have side effects once a year.

“I’d recommend getting them as soon as you can. It does take some time for immunity to develop,” she said.

Given the high amount of COVID-19 circulating right now, the best thing is to get that shot as soon as possible, said Beth Carlton, chair of environmental and occupational health at the Colorado School of Public Health. For flu, people should get adequate protection as long as they get the shot before Halloween, she said.

Last year, flu shot uptake held steady, while the number of people getting COVID-19 vaccines dropped. Relatively few people got a new shot for RSV, which typically causes colds but can be deadly in infants and older people.

So far, uptake of the new flu and COVID-19 shots has been relatively strong, said Jessica Chenoweth, who oversees 17 CVS pharmacy locations along the Front Range. She isn’t sure what changed to revitalize people’s interest.

“It feels on-pace to what I’ve seen in previous years,” she said.

People who got a COVID-19 booster during the summer wave should wait two months before getting their next dose, though they could get the flu shot earlier if they want, Chenoweth said. Generally, though, she recommends getting all seasonal vaccines at once, to avoid forgetting one.

Some people who got the COVID-19 vaccine for free last year will have to pay out of pocket this fall. The Bridge Access program, which paid for COVID-19 vaccines for uninsured people, ended this year, but the CDC said it would allocate $62 million for state and local health departments to buy vaccines they can give out for free.

Chenoweth said the shot costs about $200 if an uninsured person pays cash. Nearly all insurance plans cover them.

The flu and COVID-19 vaccines change each year, to try to match the dominant variants. RSV doesn’t evolve as quickly, so the vaccine is the same one that rolled out last year.

For the first time in a decade, the flu vaccine will include three strains, rather than four. The influenza B Yamagata strain hasn’t shown up in testing since March 2020, and flu manufacturers dropped it from the vaccine this year. Unlike influenza A strains, flu B only circulates in people, so when respiratory virus transmission plummeted early in the pandemic, the Yamagata strain apparently couldn’t survive, said Guthmiller, the CU researcher.

“There’s a strong belief that it’s gone extinct,” she said.

The updated Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines teach the body to make the spike protein from the KP.2 variant of the virus, which is a cousin of the currently dominant KP.3.1.1. When the body sees the spike, it develops antibodies against it, reducing the risk a person will get sick if they encounter the actual virus. The disembodied spike proteins produced after vaccination can’t give anyone the virus, though some people feel tired or achy because of their immune response.

The updated Novavax shot, which injects the spike protein directly, is based on the JN.1 variant, which dominated last winter.

In addition to getting vaccinated, people can protect themselves and others by staying home if they feel sick, washing their hands frequently, practicing general healthy habits and wearing masks in crowded spaces if they feel comfortable doing that, Duckro said.

“We certainly wouldn’t want to rely on vaccines entirely,” she said.

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6605428 2024-09-07T06:00:14+00:00 2024-09-07T06:03:33+00:00
Colorado gets $225,000 from CDC to measure lead, PFA exposure https://www.denverpost.com/2024/09/03/colorado-cdc-grant-rural-lead-pfas/ Tue, 03 Sep 2024 21:05:49 +0000 https://www.denverpost.com/?p=6601914 Colorado will receive $225,000 each of the next three years to monitor exposure to lead in rural residents and to “forever chemicals” in people who encounter them at work.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made grants to Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah for “biomonitoring,” which refers to testing blood or other bodily fluids for chemical contamination. The grants will allow them to test the amount of lead and other heavy metals in rural residents’ blood, while testing for per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) will focus on firefighters and other people in jobs where they frequently use the chemicals.

The four states previously worked together to quantify their residents’ exposure to pesticides, herbicides and other chemicals.

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6601914 2024-09-03T15:05:49+00:00 2024-09-03T22:15:26+00:00
U.S. Department of Justice investigating Littleton school bus assault https://www.denverpost.com/2024/09/03/department-justice-littleton-school-bus-assault/ Tue, 03 Sep 2024 17:19:10 +0000 https://www.denverpost.com/?p=6583351 The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating Littleton Public Schools and the Joshua School for possible civil rights violations after a district employee assaulted a boy with a disability during a bus ride home.

A letter, sent in mid-June to attorney Qusair Mohamedbhai, said the department was opening an investigation into whether the district and the school violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. Mohamedbhai is representing three families after a bus monitor allegedly physically assaulted their children.

The Department of Justice declined to comment. The federal investigation is separate from the families’ civil lawsuit and a criminal case against the bus monitor, Mohamedbhai said.

A video, captured on a bus ride home from the autism-focused Joshua School on March 18, appeared to show paraprofessional Kiarra Jones elbowing and hitting a boy who was sitting next to her, as well as slamming his head against the bus window. The boy, who is unable to speak, according to his mother, appeared to be sitting calmly at the time of the assault.

A parent had noticed unexplained bruises on their child about two months earlier and raised concerns he could have gotten them on the bus ride. The district reported it reviewed security camera footage and found nothing out of the ordinary.

Littleton Public Schools fired Jones following the March incident. The Joshua School is independent, but contracts with Littleton Public Schools for transportation.

Englewood Police arrested Jones, 29, in April. She faces nine counts of third-degree assault on an at-risk person, which is a felony, as well as three counts of misdemeanor child abuse. Police said video also showed her abusing the boy and another child on three other occasions.

Mohamedbhai alleged Jones also assaulted a third child, who hasn’t been included in the criminal case. All three no longer attend the Joshua School and have experienced regression in their behavior following the attack, he said.

“It’s very difficult to treat a nonverbal autistic child with this level of trauma,” he said.

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6583351 2024-09-03T11:19:10+00:00 2024-09-03T22:14:02+00:00
Missing 15-year-old girl last seen in Lakewood on Aug. 23 https://www.denverpost.com/2024/09/03/missing-indigenous-teenager-lakewood-valerie-ayala-griego/ Tue, 03 Sep 2024 14:32:18 +0000 https://www.denverpost.com/?p=6583375 The Colorado Bureau of Investigation issued a missing Indigenous person alert for a 15-year-old girl last seen in Lakewood more than a week ago.

Valerie Ayala-Griego was last seen at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 23 in the 6100 block of West 13th Avenue. She also made a phone call at about 4:30 p.m. Aug. 25, but hasn’t been heard from since.

Ayala-Griego is about five-foot-six and 130 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. The last time anyone saw her, she was wearing a white hooded sweatshirt with “Paris” written on it, light-colored pants and black-and-white shoes.

If you see Ayala-Griego, call 911 or police dispatch, 303-980-7300, and mention case number LK24-027185.

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6583375 2024-09-03T08:32:18+00:00 2024-09-03T10:47:50+00:00
Viral video about Littleton murder is fake, law enforcement says https://www.denverpost.com/2024/09/03/littleton-fort-collins-true-crime-youtube-videos-ai-fake/ Tue, 03 Sep 2024 13:16:34 +0000 https://www.denverpost.com/?p=6583288 Two miniature documentaries billed as “true crime” stories of murder in Colorado are entirely fake and apparently created by artificial intelligence, law enforcement said.

A 25-minute film about a Littleton man murdered by his stepson with whom he’d a sexual relationship reached 2 million views on YouTube, while another, about a Fort Collins man killing his wife, got 200,000. The videos used AI-generated photos of the supposed murderers and victims, invented the names of attorneys and got basic facts about the cities wrong.

Larimer County District Attorney Gordon McLaughlin told 9News that the Fort Collins video didn’t refer to a real case, and as far as he could tell, wasn’t even based on one. Fake true crime content could lead people to doubt real crime victims, or even video and photographic evidence presented in court, he said.

An expert on AI told The Denver Post that the most likely motive for the humans who’d used the technology to create the videos was profit from people watching the salacious content, and the ads that came with it.

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6583288 2024-09-03T07:16:34+00:00 2024-09-03T08:31:29+00:00
Human intestinal bacteria have “short-lived” spike in Clear Creek during the summer https://www.denverpost.com/2024/09/03/human-intestinal-bacteria-spike-clear-creek-summer-tubing/ Tue, 03 Sep 2024 12:55:14 +0000 https://www.denverpost.com/?p=6583284 Samples of Clear Creek taken during a summer holiday weekend showed a spike in bacteria from human intestines during times of high tubing activity, but the increase was “short-lived,” according to a new study.

Researchers from Colorado School of Mines and Johns Hopkins University took samples from a stretch of Clear Creek in the city of Golden and compared them to an upstream location with relatively little tubing activity. In addition to the increase in bacteria, they found a higher concentration of metals, such as lead, suspended in the water.

The study, first reported by Denver 7, attributed the increase in metals to human activity stirring up the creek bed, where they had accumulated since Colorado’s mining days. The spike in intestinal bacteria suggests that at least some people tubing on the creek also used it as a bathroom.

The authors said the spikes resolved quickly following a high-use weekend, however. They didn’t assess the impact on plants or animal life.

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6583284 2024-09-03T06:55:14+00:00 2024-09-03T06:55:14+00:00
Coloradans using food assistance to buy produce can receive bonus matching funds https://www.denverpost.com/2024/09/03/colorado-snap-produce-bonus-food-assistance/ Tue, 03 Sep 2024 12:00:12 +0000 https://www.denverpost.com/?p=6577846 Coloradans who receive food assistance now have another financial incentive to buy produce, but only if they shop at certain local businesses.

The state is one of three piloting new incentives, and will receive $7.9 million by the end of 2027 to offer matching funds for money spent on fruits and vegetables purchased with money from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

The other states that will receive funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to try out the Produce Bonus program are Washington and Louisiana.

Recipients can receive up to $20 in matching funds per transaction, for a maximum of $60 per month. The match is available for money spent on fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables, provided they don’t contain added fat, salt or sugar. At farmers markets, recipients can also get matching funds for funds spent on dried beans, fruits and vegetables, provided they don’t have those three added ingredients.

Coloradans who receive food assistance already have some incentives to buy produce, such as Double Up Food Bucks, which are paper coupons they receive when buying fruits and vegetables.

Produce Bonus funds automatically appear on people’s earned benefit transfer cards, so they don’t have to remember paper coupons, said Abby McClelland, director of the food and energy assistance division at the Colorado Department of Human Services.

People can spend their Produce Bonus funds on any foods that SNAP covers, unlike the Double Up funds, which are only good for fruits and vegetables, she said.

Because the cards don’t differentiate funding for produce from other food, states aren’t able to limit how recipients can spend the bonus money, a USDA spokeswoman said.

So far, the only participating Denver location is a single farmers market, and the other locations are concentrated in the upper portion of the Interstate 25 corridor, between Loveland and Wellington. See cdhs.colorado.gov/snap-produce-bonus for a full list.

The department is working to get more retailers involved, though some may have to upgrade their software or card readers to process the rebate funds, McClelland said. They are focusing on locally owned businesses in areas with low access to food and low average incomes, with no immediate plans to bring in chain grocery stores, she said.

“We’re trying to be strategic,” she said.

While the USDA ultimately will decide if the program succeeded, McClelland said she hopes it can increase food assistance recipients’ produce consumption and overall purchasing power, while giving a boost to businesses in underserved areas.

“I think this is a step forward,” she said.

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6577846 2024-09-03T06:00:12+00:00 2024-09-03T06:03:35+00:00
HealthOne, UnitedHealthcare reach 11th-hour agreement on insurance plan https://www.denverpost.com/2024/09/01/healthone-united-healthcare-network-hospitals/ Sun, 01 Sep 2024 17:28:16 +0000 https://www.denverpost.com/?p=6581163 HealthOne and UnitedHealthcare reached a last-minute deal to keep the hospitals in-network, averting a separation that would have forced patients to find new doctors or pay more out-of-pocket.

When patients visit a hospital that has agreed to in-network rates, they pay either a flat fee or a portion of the cost of their care. If they go to an out-of-network facility, they could get a bill for whatever their insurance declined to cover. Federal and state law prevent surprise bills when a patient has an emergency, but not for scheduled care.

The two parties reached a multiyear deal that ensures continued, uninterrupted network access to the health system’s hospitals, facilities and physicians for people enrolled in employer-sponsored commercial plans, individual family plans and Medicare Advantage plans, including group retiree and dual special needs plans, Cole Manbeck, a United spokesman, wrote in a news release to announce the deal.

“We thank our members and customers for their support and patience throughout this process. We are honored to continue supporting all of the people throughout Colorado who depend on us for access to quality and affordable health care,” the news release stated.

The two businesses’ existing contract ended Sunday, and the two sides struggled to agree on rates for the next contract. If they hadn’t reached a deal, patients covered by United would have paid more to use:

• Centennial Hospital

• North Suburban Medical Center

• Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Medical Center

• Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children

• Rose Medical Center

• Sky Ridge Medical Center

• Swedish Medical Center

• The Medical Center of Aurora

United accused HealthOne of making “unreasonable” demands for double-digit increases in rates, while HealthOne said United offered rates below market levels for the Denver area.

Health systems and insurers usually reach a deal before their contracts expire, but CommonSpirit Health left Anthem BlueCross BlueShield of Colorado’s network for more than two weeks earlier this year when they couldn’t agree on rates by the deadline.

At least 20 hospitals or systems had disputes with insurance companies nationwide in the second quarter of 2024, compared to at least 24 during the same period of 2023, according to Becker’s Healthcare Review. The true number could be higher, because the count relies on news reports, and some disputes could have ended quietly or happened in places without local media.

About 30% of the parties didn’t reach an agreement before their contracts expired, meaning the hospitals went out of network at least briefly, according to Becker’s, which is a trade publication.

United is the largest insurance company nationwide in the commercial and Medicare Advantage markets, while Tennessee-based HCA Healthcare, which owns the HealthOne hospitals, is the largest for-profit health system in the country.

Reporter Noelle Phillips contributed to this report.

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6581163 2024-09-01T11:28:16+00:00 2024-09-01T13:55:00+00:00