Colorado
Colorado journalists show power of collaboration in UCHealth debt collection exposé
University of Colorado Hospital. Photo by Jeffrey Beall (CC BY-SA 3.0)
In June, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed into law HB24-1380, Regulation of Debt-Related Services. The law marked a milestone in a five-year investigation by a group of reporters into the debt-collection practices of the University of Colorado Health System (UCHealth).
Starting in 2019, journalists from five news outlets collected data on the number of lawsuits UCHealth brought against patients who had unpaid medical bills, according to reporting from Chris Vanderveen, the director of special projects for television station 9News, and John Ingold, a health reporter and cofounder of the nonprofit news outlet, The Colorado Sun.
Dubbed “Diagnosis: Debt Colorado,” the reporting project stems from a partnership led by the Colorado News Collaborative (COLab) and KFF Health News and included contributions from The Colorado Sun, 9News, Colorado Newsline and The Sentinel. In a series stemming from KFF Health News’ reporting on medical debt in the United States, the reporters explored the causes, scale and effects of medical debt on Colorado’s residents.
UCHealth is the state’s largest hospital system, collecting more than $6 billion in patient care revenue annually, Ingold and Vanderveen reported on Feb. 19, “UCHealth sues thousands of patients every year. But you won’t find its name on the lawsuits.”
In its mission statement, UCHealth says, “We improve lives,” the reporters noted. But from 2019 through 2023, the health system and its debt collectors filed 15,710 lawsuits, UCHealth revealed in response to questions from Ingold and Vanderveen, the two reporters wrote in that Feb. 19 article. That’s an average of 3,142 lawsuits per year, or more than eight per day, they noted. Yet almost none of the lawsuits were filed in UCHealth’s name, they added.
Veiled legal actions
In a broadcast on June 27, Vanderveen summarized the reporters’ findings. “As Colorado’s largest and most prominent medical provider insisted it was ‘not hiding anything,’ an exhaustive investigation discovered UCHealth, for years, used what amounted to a loophole in the state’s court system to keep private its aggressive bill collection practices,” Vanderveen wrote.
While journalists often cover hospitals’ confrontational billing and collection tactics, the investigative work of Vanderveen, Ingold and other journalists in this collaboration is significant because it shows how health reporters can uncover lawsuits when a hospital or health system conceals its legal actions against patients.
For their work, the collaborative efforts were particularly useful as were more traditional reporting strategies: soliciting patients’ hospital bills over multiple years, visiting courthouses when debt-collection cases were heard, and gathering the names of defendants and lawyers in those cases.
This spring, the investigation prompted the Colorado General Assembly to pass HB24-1380 to close a loophole that allowed UCHealth to sue thousands of patients under another business’ name, Vanderveen reported. Starting this fall, the law will force hospital systems to sue patients under their own names on debts the systems still own.
After the legislature passed HB24-1380, state Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis, praised the journalists’ work. “I really do think we owe you a little bit of thanks — maybe a lot of thanks and gratitude — for sure, because it pointed us in the right direction,” said Jaquez Lewis, a sponsor of the bill.
How the project unfolded
Early in 2020, UCHealth ended its years-long practice of suing patients under its own name, a change that was not disclosed to the state legislature or the public, Vanderveen reported. “The decision allowed UCHealth to continue to sue patients — roughly eight per day for years — with virtually no way to track its legal efforts,” the TV station explained. By allowing two of its third-party debt collectors to use their names as plaintiffs, “UCHealth turned a once-transparent process into a confusing and opaque mess for many of its patients,” the news station added.
When journalists asked about the issue, UCHealth’s administrators said the health system had sued more than 15,000 patients in five years, becoming one of the most aggressive litigants in Colorado, 9News explained.
Soliciting data from patients’ bills
Years before collaborating with other journalists to report on medical debt, Vanderveen asked 9News’ viewers to send in their medical bills. “Sometime between 2016 and 2018, we started a bill-solicitation program called, ‘Show Us Your Bills,’ and we got a lot of submissions,” he said in a phone interview. From those bills, Vanderveen built a database showing how often each hospital filed lawsuits, including the most aggressive litigants.
In 2020, COVID-19 forced all health care journalists to postpone their regular work, but later that year, Vanderveen became curious about how many hospitals filed debt-collection suits during the pandemic. His data showed a sudden drop in lawsuits from UCHealth.
Also in 2020, two Kaiser Health News journalists — senior correspondent Jay Hancock and data editor Elizabeth Lucas — were Pulitzer Prize finalists for reporting in 2019 on the predatory billing practices of the University of Virginia Health System. In an eight-part series, Hancock and Lucas exposed how UVA “relentlessly squeezed low-income patients — many into bankruptcy — forcing the nonprofit, state-run hospital to change its tactics,” the Pulitzer prize committee wrote, as AHCJ reported in a tip sheet published that same year.
Did UVA’s experience prompt UCHealth to change its tactics? Vanderveen wondered. “On the surface, it appeared as if UCHealth had a change of heart because no more lawsuits were filed under UCHealth’s name,” he explained. “It went from about hundreds per quarter to like two or three per quarter.” About that same time, he heard about Credit Service Co., a debt collector in Colorado Springs, that was a party to some UCHealth lawsuits against patients, he said. [See image from 9News.]
A trove of data in court filings
As Vanderveen’s data showed, UCHealth never stopped suing patients in early 2020. While it didn’t do so in a publicly traceable way, he could still find cases by searching court records for Credit Service Co. as a plaintiff, he said.
Visiting the courthouse was also useful, Ingold added. “Going to court is something I would highly recommend, because your local jurisdiction is probably hearing many debt-collection cases on the same days,” he said. “Plus, the lawyers who handle those cases are all the same people.” These courts had long dockets of cases that debt collectors filed, he noted.
Inside Colorado’s courts, the reporters found defendants waiting to respond to debt-collection summonses. “Chris [Vanderveen] would walk up and down a row of people, and ask, ‘Who’s here for a UCHealth case,’ and ‘Who’s being sued by the Credit Service Company?” Ingold said. Several defendants raised their hands, he noted. At the same time, Ingold found people named in suits that other health care entities brought, leading to more stories.
In addition, the reporters called legal services groups, consumer assistance programs, law school clinics and any other organization helping consumers, especially those with low income, Ingold said. They would have at least some insight into who is suing over medical debt.
Another reporting strategy is to seek defendants who filed answers to complaints, meaning the case may go to a hearing or trial, Ingold advised. In those case files, reporters may find creditors’ names, he said. Also, defendants who challenge these cases may want to talk to reporters, he added.
The value of collaboration
One of the most important lessons learned was the teamwork that came from the collaborative nature of the project. At COLab, journalists no longer compete as they once did to be the first to break stories. Instead, COLab journalists from different newsrooms work on projects together to serve the public good, Ingold explained.
“What we produce for the news collaborative can be distributed to pretty much any newsroom in Colorado that wants it,” he added said. “My story about the lawsuits ran on our site, at www.ColoradoSun.com, and it ran on the websites of the other news collaborators. Also, it ended up in The Denver Post and a number of other places around the state.”
COLab makes efficient use of the limited staff left behind in many newsrooms when fewer news outlets can devote multiple staff to any one project, he commented. “Also, we can help all the participating newsrooms by providing content everybody can use,” he added.
In addition to working with multiple newsrooms in Colorado, COLab also worked with Noam N. Levey, a senior correspondent at KFF Health News, who has led KFF’s award-winning project, Diagnosis: Debt.
Levey introduced the Colorado reporters to the staff at the Urban Institute who have researched how medical debt and collections affect immigrants and people of color, said Tina Griego, COLab’s managing editor. Data from the Urban Institute led to this story, “Medical Debt Affects Much of America, but Colorado Immigrants Are Hit Especially Hard,” by Rae Ellen Bichell and Lindsey Toomer, of Colorado Newsline, Griego explained. Bichell is a Colorado correspondent for KFF Health News and Toomer covers politics and social justice for Colorado Newsline, which is part of the States Newsroom, a nonprofit covering state capitals.
Resources
- “UCHealth sues thousands of patients every year but doesn’t use its own name to do it,” Colorado Sun and 9News, Feb. 16, 2024.
- “Colorado hospital giant’s lawsuits fill county courtrooms with defendants and confusion,” 9News, March 1, 2024.
- “Medical Debt Affects Much of America, but Colorado Immigrants Are Hit Especially Hard,” April 3, 2024.
- “Hospitals suing patients over unpaid bills would have to put their names on lawsuits under new Colorado measure,” Colorado Sun, April 12, 2024.
- “Loophole allowed UCHealth to sue thousands of patients under another business’ name,” 9News, June 27, 2024.
(COLORADO SPRINGS) — Efforts are underway to bring more homes to Colorado Springs, just days after housing advocates pointed out some shortfalls. The Pikes Peak Housing Network says El Paso County has a housing deficit of between 13,000 and 27,000 homes right now. The organization says affordable housing remains a big need, but Colorado Springs officials say the community is pushing back on some developments.
Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade said housing “Will continue to be a crisis, but it’s also an opportunity.”
“Homes have risen far more in price than income; three times more,” said Pikes Peak Housing Network Executive Director Jill Gaebler.
Gaebler presented to the Colorado Springs City Council on Monday and said El Paso County is not building enough homes that the average person can afford right now. She said the median home price in the county currently sits around $500,000.
“The average age of the first-time homebuyer has increased to 40 years old. Just a decade ago, it was 31 years old,” said Gaebler, “we’re renting longer, getting that nest egg ready to purchase a home and put down a deposit.”
In Colorado Springs, Mayor Mobolade says the city is working on the issue.
“We’ve invested $230 million in affordable housing projects… But what I’m really proud of is 3000 homes since I got into office, affordable homes,” said Mobolade.
City of Colorado Springs Media Relations Manager Max D’Onofrio said in a statement to FOX21 the city is working to advance several initiatives, including “developing a Housing Action Plan; investing in new affordable and attainable housing through federal funds and private‑activity bonds; supporting rehabilitation programs for low‑income seniors; providing tenant‑based rental assistance; strengthening partnerships with the Colorado Springs Housing Authority; and maintaining the City’s eligibility for Proposition 123 to keep more projects moving forward.”
“We will continue to ensure that every money from the federal government that passes through the city and every money from the state that passes through the city will be prioritized for housing that targets the area median income that our residents need,” said Mobolade.
Gaebler says her organization helps builders who construct all types of homes connect with decision makers when seeking project approval. But she and the mayor say affordable housing often gets pushback from the community.
“It’s getting harder and harder for those projects to get approved because community members fight and oppose a lot of these housing developments,” said Gaebler.
“We’re seeing a pushback from our community on just about every affordable housing project,” said Mobolade, “I know people get hung up on that term. We’re not talking about Section 8 lower-income homes, not that that doesn’t matter, that matters. We’re talking about teachers, nurses, firefighters, police officers, military members that can’t afford to live in this city.”
D’Onofrio also stated, while the city focuses on affordable rentals and attainable homeownership, it is also aiming to preserve neighborhood character and protect quality of life.
The city did not give a date on when it is aiming to complete the Housing Action Plan, which it says is currently in the works.
Colorado
Glendale rejects Colorado Boulevard Bus Rapid Transit plan; CDOT data shows some commute times could double
Glendale city leaders are forcefully opposing Colorado’s proposed Bus Rapid Transit project on Colorado Boulevard, warning the plan could dramatically worsen traffic for drivers while delivering only modest transit gains.
Last week, Glendale City Council voted unanimously in favor of a resolution recommending “no build” for the Colorado Department of Transportation’s proposed Bus Rapid Transit, or BRT, project along a seven-mile stretch of Colorado Boulevard.
“Hell no,” Glendale City Manager Chuck Line said in an interview with CBS Colorado.
“The juice is not worth the squeeze, not by a little, but by a long shot,” Line said.
The resolution cites concerns about increased congestion and what Glendale leaders described as negative impacts that outweigh the project’s forecasted increases in bus ridership and reductions in transit travel times.
And some of CDOT’s own projections appear to support at least part of Glendale’s concerns.
According to agency data reviewed by CBS Colorado, one proposed configuration featuring center- and side-running bus lanes would double southbound commute times for drivers traveling the full 7-mile corridor — from about 25 minutes to roughly 50 minutes.
Another option using side-running lanes would increase travel times by about 40%, according to CDOT projections.
Drivers traveling shorter distances would likely experience smaller delays.
CDOT spokesperson Tamara Rollison suggested for people not wanting to spend more time stuck in Colorado Boulevard traffic, “Busses could be a viable option to take instead of your vehicle.”
“The plans they are offering,” said Line, “are so extreme and have such a big impact on millions of residents of this area that I don’t think they should be considering any of these three plans and should go back to the drawing board.”
CDOT is studying the BRT project as a way to improve transit service and safety along Colorado Boulevard between 40th Avenue and Hampden Avenue. About 1 mile of the corridor runs through Glendale.
The agency is considering several alternatives, including side-running bus lanes, center-running bus lanes, and mixed-flow traffic. No final decision has been made, and the project does not yet have a finalized cost estimate. CDOT hopes the eventual design will reduce crashes, improve traffic flow, and speed up bus service.
“A critical goal of this project is to improve safety as Colorado Boulevard is on the High Injury Network and has one of the highest crash rates and road-related fatalities in the region,” said Rollison.
CDOT data shows all of the proposed options would increase bus speeds along the corridor by roughly 20% to 30%.
Part of that improvement would come from simply reducing the number of bus stops. There are currently about 50 stops along the 7-mile corridor. Under the proposed BRT plans, that number would be cut to approximately 20.
State data also shows roughly 2,800 people currently ride buses along the Colorado Boulevard corridor each day. CDOT forecasts that number could rise to about 6,000 daily riders under a BRT system.
But Line argues the tradeoff could create ripple effects far beyond Colorado Boulevard itself.
He said prioritizing north-south traffic flow would likely require longer green lights on Colorado Boulevard, leading to longer red lights — and backups — on east-west streets.
“If that convenience is disrupted,” said Line, “it could have a significant impact on our business community.”
Glendale is not alone in its concerns. The Hilltop Neighborhood Association recently met with CDOT representatives to discuss the proposed changes.
“The success of this project should not be measured only by bus ridership,” said association president Courtney Mamuscia. “It should also be measured by whether nearby neighborhoods remain safe, livable, and protected from cut-through traffic.”
Residents worry that reducing lanes on Colorado Boulevard could divert more traffic onto neighborhood streets.
“Most residents,” said Mamuscia, “are skeptical of the current direction.”
She said many Hilltop residents share Glendale’s concerns that increasing bus ridership may not justify disruptions for tens of thousands of daily drivers.
CDOT has scheduled an open house on the Colorado Boulevard BRT project for Wednesday, May 13, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Clayton Early Learning Center, 3801 M.L.K. Jr. Blvd. in Denver. People who are interested but can’t attend can take an online survey on a special section of CDOT’s website.
“We are still in the planning process, figuring out what is the best solution for Colorado Boulevard,” said Rollison, “and we haven’t gotten there yet.”
Colorado
Colorado lawmakers have ‘deep concerns’ about federal government’s wildfire preparedness amid drought
Colorado members of Congress want answers about how prepared federal agencies like the U.S. Forest Service are for the elevated wildfire risk this year.
U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and Rep. Joe Neguse sent a letter in April to Agriculture Department Secretary Brooke Rollins and Interior Department Secretary Doug Burgum, emphasizing that the widespread drought and historically low snowpack across the West are expected to fuel wildfire risk.
“As we approach the summer months, we write to express our deep concerns about these conditions and respectfully implore your agencies to take immediate actions to better prepare for unprecedented wildfire risks,” the lawmakers wrote.
The Department of Agriculture houses the Forest Service, which has the nation’s largest wildland firefighting force, while the Department of the Interior houses the Bureau of Land Management and the newly-established U.S. Wildland Fire Service.
Neguse represents Colorado’s second congressional district, which includes parts of northwest Colorado, where drought conditions are among the worst in the country. Colorado wildfire leaders have raised concerns that the widespread drought conditions could make the northwestern part of the state a “bullseye” for fire activity this summer.
In the letter, the lawmakers requested that the federal departments increase cooperative preparedness efforts with local and state governments and proactively position resources in the West where drought conditions are the worst.
The letter also calls on both departments to publicly release staffing levels for the coming wildfire season, including the number of firefighters that have been hired and how many staff have incident management qualifications — better known as “red cards” — that allow them to assist on wildfires.
Rollins published a memo on April 29 stating that the Department of Agriculture plans to prioritize initial attack and use a “full suppression strategy” this wildfire season. The Forest Service can mobilize 28,000 wildfire responders and “over 22,000 contracted resources” to respond to fires, she said. The memo did not state how many firefighters the department has hired ahead of the coming wildfire season.
The Interior Department employed about 5,700 wildland fire personnel last year and “anticipates a similar staffing level to this year,” the department said in an email Tuesday.
The Department of Agriculture did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment on the lawmakers’ letter.
Both Neguse and Bennet have previously raised concerns that the Interior and Agriculture departments lost hundreds of red-card holders last year when President Donald Trump’s administration axed thousands of jobs and offered early retirements to employees across the federal government. Just weeks after the cuts, Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz called for red-carded employees to “come back” to the agency.
The lawmakers’ letter also seeks more information about how the administration plans to prevent ongoing reorganizations at both federal departments from impacting preparedness for the wildfire season.
The Forest Service last month announced that it will undergo a “sweeping restructuring” that will relocate its headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Salt Lake City. Meanwhile, Burgum in January ordered that firefighting forces across the Interior Department be consolidated into the new Wildland Fire Service.
Both Burgum and Rollins have claimed that the reorganization efforts will not impact the coming wildfire season.
“The unification of the Interior Department’s wildland fire management programs is being implemented in deliberate phases to ensure continuity of operations and readiness for wildfire activity in 2026,” the Department of Interior said in a statement. “Current firefighting capabilities remain fully in place, and there will be no gap in response capacity.”
In February, Bennet called for Burgum to “halt” the formation of the Wildland Fire Service. Both he and Neguse have also called on the administration to ramp up its wildfire mitigation work ahead of the coming fire season, after an analysis of publicly available data published late last year found that wildland mitigation efforts in the West have declined by 38% since Trump took office.
In their latest letter, Neguse and Bennet wrote that the Agriculture and Interior departments are “integral partners” in responding to wildfires.
“We urge you to take immediate steps to maximize early detection of wildland fires and reduce any delays to ensure that federal resources are prepared to respond efficiently,” they wrote.
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