A very quick committee hearing late Thursday night put a few more changes into legislation that initially sought to ban hospital facilities fees.

Those changes are expected to result in the Colorado Hospital Association removing its opposition to House Bill 1215. 

The ban still applies to preventive services, but House legislators watered it down to a study on the effects of those fees, along with requirements for more transparency for patients who are charged those fees.

Facilities fees are an outgrowth of the movement away from patient hospitalization and toward more outpatient services. For the purposes of HB 1215, the bill affects a variety of clinics operated by hospitals, which said the fees cover virtually all services save for those provided by physicians. That’s everything from security to nursing to technicians to cleaning staff.

The bill garnered intense opposition from Colorado’s hospitals, which argued it would devastate rural hospitals – a group taken out of the bill. Hospitals also said they aren’t seeing the kinds of profits alleged by supporters of the bill since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Supporters pointed to large bills, sometimes in the thousands of dollars, that patients did not expect, and that insurance either doesn’t cover or covers only a small part of, leaving the rest to patients who often have high deductibles. 

Thursday night’s hearing in the Senate Health & Human Services Committee added three more amendments, one significant enough to remove opposition from the hospital association.

Sen. Lisa Cutter, D-Littleton, called the claims that hospitals would lose money “extreme.” As to the bill’s study provision, it’s important to understand how facilities fees work, as well as putting common sense limits on fees levied for preventive services, she said.

“We’ve been able to find that compromise,” said Sen. Kyle Mullica, D-Thornton, noting that one of the amendments offered Thursday night went to the wire on negotiations.

“Transparency is a good thing and if we have the opportunity to provide it to our patients, we should,” he added.

The late hour – the bill was heard after 11 p.m. in a hearing that lasted 16 minutes – meant no one testified on the measure. 

One amendment changed the study design. A second one was technical in nature. The third – which included the more substantive changes negotiated up until the committee hearing started – would move the hospitals off their opposition position, according to Mullica.

Its main provision deleted the ban on telehealth facilities fees.

In a statement Friday, the Colorado Hospital Association said the group and member hospitals “appreciate the detailed and thoughtful work of the sponsors and proponents as we seek to ensure that HB 23-1215 (facility fees) does not risk access to care for Coloradans.”

“We particularly appreciate the agreement that there is a significant need to study the impact of facility fees on health care in the state before making changes that could otherwise harm patient access,” the group said. 

The CHA pledged to continue working on the bill to “ensure that patient protections are included in the new bill language about preventive care services.”

The bill now heads to Senate Appropriations Committee and a Monday hearing.