Source: Denver Business Journal
Colorado’s attorney general on Monday approved UCHealth’s proposed acquisition of Estes Park Health, clearing the way for the independent mountain hospital to be added to UCHealth’s network this year.
Estes Park Health, which is governed by a special district called Park Hospital District, signed a letter of intent last October to join the larger health system. UCHealth pledged to invest more than $30 million in the hospital and to explore expanded virtual and behavioral health programs in the area.
The organizations said at the time that they expected their combination to be complete by the spring.
But first, the deal had to clear approval from the state attorney general. Under the Colorado Hospital Transfer Act, the attorney general reviews the transaction to ensure it will not change charitable purposes of the hospital and that funds will not leave the state, according to a previous news release from Estes Park Health.
Attorney General Phil Weiser said in an opinion released Monday that the transaction “will not result in a material change to Estes Park Health hospital’s public purpose and that Coloradans will not experience a reduction in the availability and accessibility of health care services in the communities the hospital serves.”
“In this review, we took that charge seriously, as we have in prior reviews, and analyzed the nature and impact of this transaction,” Weiser said in a statement. “Based on our review, we have no legal objection to the transaction proceeding.”
UCHealth will assume $10 million in long-term debt held by Estes Park Health and provide at least $20 million over 10 years for capital projects and routine maintenance, according to the attorney general’s office.
The health system also plans to hire most Estes Park Health employees who are in good standing, the release said. About 320 staff members work for the hospital, according to previous reporting.
The Estes Park hospital is one of several small hospitals identified in Colorado as struggling with financial losses in recent years. More than half of the hospital’s patients are covered by Medicare, Medicaid or are uninsured, according to previous Denver Business Journal reporting.
A majority of members of the new UCHealth Estes Park Board of Directors will be from the Estes Park community, according to Weiser’s office, which should help to ensure that the local community’s priorities will be “top of mind.”
UCHealth has said that it has long partnered with Estes Park Health to expand benefits to that hospital’s community. The system said Estes Park joined in on an IT contract with UCHealth in 2024 to save on costs, for example.
Now at 14 hospitals and more than 30,000 employees, UCHealth is Colorado’s largest hospital network. In 2023, UCHealth absorbed two Pueblo hospitals — Parkview Medical Center and Parkview Pueblo West Hospital — adding nearly 3,000 employees to its system.
UCHealth’s large and growing presence in Colorado has attracted scrutiny from state policymakers and regulators in recent years, who attribute rising health care prices in part to consolidation in the industry. But the health system has said that the Pueblo and Estes Park hospital acquisitions were not financially driven decisions.
UCHealth CEO Elizabeth Concordia said in an interview with the Denver Business Journal last year that adding hospitals in smaller rural communities, most of which have been operating at a financial loss, is one way to ensure that health care in Colorado is as stable as possible.
“We certainly aren’t looking to merge, integrate, acquire a large number of hospitals,” Concordia said.
