Senator Pettersen’s Freestanding Emergency Departments Bill Passes Senate
April 12, 2019
Denver, CO – The Colorado State Senate today voted 24-to-8 with 3 excused to pass HB19-1010, Freestanding Emergency Departments Licensure, a bill sponsored by Senator Brittany Pettersen (D-Lakewood) to make healthcare more transparent and affordable by creating a new license for specific health facilities. The bill now heads to Governor Jared Polis for his signature.
“Coloradans have demanded that we do more to improve healthcare in our state, and this legislation is part our efforts to improve our healthcare system,” said Senator Pettersen. “By creating this new license for freestanding emergency departments, we can increase transparency and hold these departments to the high standard of care that we do for Colorado’s emergency rooms.”
The bill creates a new license – the Freestanding Emergency Department License – for the department of public health and environment to issue to specific types of health facilities. Qualifying health facilities must offer emergency care, may offer primary and urgent care services, and can either be affiliated with or independent of a hospital if they are more than 250 yards away from it. Community clinics that serve an underserved population in the state will be exempt from the licenses.
HB19-1010 passed the House of Representatives on third reading by a vote of 54-9-1 on February 15, 2019. For more information on this legislation, please visit https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb19-1010.
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