Colorado
UCHealth sues Colorado’s state Medicaid agency over hospital classification
![UCHealth sues Colorado’s state Medicaid agency over hospital classification UCHealth sues Colorado’s state Medicaid agency over hospital classification](https://www.denverpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/memorial-hospital-colorado-springs.png?w=1024&h=615)
UCHealth sued the agency overseeing Medicaid in Colorado on Friday, alleging it mislabeled two of the health network’s hospitals, costing it the fair share of a fee to offset uncompensated care.
The lawsuit, filed in Denver District Court, alleges the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing mislabeled two UCHealth facilities as publicly owned, rather than private nonprofit hospitals.
UCHealth said the alleged misclassification had reduced the amount that Memorial Hospital in Colorado Springs and Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins received from the state’s health care affordability and sustainability fee.
Neither the lawsuit nor a UCHealth spokesman said how much money the health system believes it is owed.
The state collects the fee from most hospitals and uses it to draw down matching federal funds. It then distributes the collected money and the matching funds based on a formula, to offset the cost of uncompensated care and quality improvement efforts.
It wasn’t clear why the state classified the two hospitals as publicly owned or when that happened. The Department of Health Care Policy and Financing on Friday said its officials are reviewing the lawsuit and couldn’t yet comment.
While the two hospitals lease their buildings from local governments, they don’t receive funding from them, and the private entity UCHealth manages them, said Dan Weaver, a spokesman for the health system. The department declined to change the hospitals’ classifications after UCHealth pointed out in December that they didn’t line up with federal rules about what counts as a public hospital, he said.
If UCHealth wins and increases the share going to two of its hospitals, some other hospitals’ shares would decrease. A broader ruling that made the department change how it classifies hospitals could create even more winners and losers.
“As the state’s largest provider of Medicaid services, UCHealth and our hospitals are dedicated to serving low-income residents of our state and those who may live in a rural area. HCPF’s misclassification of our hospitals puts Medicaid patients at risk by potentially denying funds needed for their care,” he said in a statement.
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Colorado
Rockies DH Blackmon leaves game vs. Padres after getting hit on left arm, left eye by errant throw
![Rockies DH Blackmon leaves game vs. Padres after getting hit on left arm, left eye by errant throw Rockies DH Blackmon leaves game vs. Padres after getting hit on left arm, left eye by errant throw](https://www.denverpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Rockies_Padres_Baseball_85041.jpg?w=1024&h=712)
SAN DIEGO — Colorado Rockies designated hitter Charlie Blackmon left Friday night’s game at San Diego with a bruised left eye after he was hit on the left arm and face on an errant throw by Padres second baseman Xander Bogaerts.
Blackmon was running to first on a grounder when he was hit, with the ball bouncing off his arm and into his eye. He flipped off his helmet and grabbed at his face as he went down in pain. He was tended to for several minutes as his eye began to swell. He finally walked off the field and was replaced by Hunter Goodman.
He was hitting .255 with seven homers.
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Colorado
Colorado man continues trying to save his home from wildfire: “It’s a war zone up here”
![Colorado man continues trying to save his home from wildfire: “It’s a war zone up here” Colorado man continues trying to save his home from wildfire: “It’s a war zone up here”](https://assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2024/08/02/05884c3a-0274-4e11-bf68-9b80fedf8f47/thumbnail/1200x630/868ffcbfca346c1176431cf65684c95d/image000001.jpg?v=d7dedd293aad546f97f947149642d369)
Andy Hitch, whose home is in the path of the Alexander Mountain fire, describes the area around his home as “a war zone,” as he, neighbors and fire crews wage a nonstop battle against encroaching flames.
Hitch, 54, rebuffed evacuation orders and has stayed behind in his mountain community, trying to save what he calls his “dream home.”
He said several other neighbors are also still hunkered down in the Storm Mountain area, digging hand lines and trying to save their properties.
Although communication has been spotty, Hitch, who owns an ATV adventure business in Estes Park, told CBS News Colorado by text message his neighbors “are defending other homes west of me with hand lines and water trucks. They’re working hand in glove with on-the-ground firefighters. Tons of air support up here.”
He has shared videos and still photos of the area with CBS News Colorado.
“Fire crews are staged on my property. It’s 67 acres. They’re using it as a defensive zone. They’re backburning 200 feet from my house and air crews are dropping all around my property perimeter to try and encapsulate it in one area. This is the ‘line in the sand,’” he said.
He has lived in the Alexander Mountain region since he was eight or nine years old, buying what he called his dream property in 2018. When the fire blew up Monday, he said police and fire crews asked him to leave: “I just decided, no way I’m leaving. I’m going to stay. I decided to stay up here to protect the property.”
He said he and his family evacuated their home in 2020 for the Cameron Peak fire and didn’t know for two weeks if their home had burned. He said he wasn’t willing to go through that uncertainty again.
“I have an exit plan. I grew up here. I know how to get away from this,” he said.
His daughter, 24-year-old Mady Hitch, said Friday she was “insanely proud” of her father.
“I think it’s really awesome what he’s doing,” she said. Hitch’s daughter and wife evacuated earlier this week along with their dog, horses and cat. “We stayed until we saw flames coming down the hill at the end of the driveway,” said Mady. She said it was “really hard not being able to be there to help him.”
She said as of Friday, about 65% of the family property around their home had burned, although the house was still intact.
She said she talked to her father by phone Friday and “He’s really tired. He saved like two more homes this morning,” she said. “If there’s anyone who can get off that mountain safely, it’s him.”
Colorado
Quarry Fire news conference held on Friday morning in Jefferson County, Colorado
![Quarry Fire news conference held on Friday morning in Jefferson County, Colorado Quarry Fire news conference held on Friday morning in Jefferson County, Colorado](https://assets3.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2024/08/02/e4b246a2-74dd-45a6-91aa-e0feb38b4103/thumbnail/1200x630/464a51413a59c1126ad2f724d4391b60/6af8feec9e1623cd73ec1430234d8bef.jpg?v=d7dedd293aad546f97f947149642d369)
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