Colorado § 25.5-1-702 - Hospitals - public community meeting requirement - rules.

§ 25.5-1-702. Hospitals - public community meeting requirement - rules.

(1) At least once each year, each reporting hospital shall convene a public meeting to seek feedback regarding the reporting hospital's community benefit activities during the previous year and the reporting hospital's community benefit implementation plan for the following year. The presentation of the community benefit activities for the previous year must include the reporting hospital's discrete community benefit activities, the amount funded for each activity, and a description of how the activities and funding amounts align with the community's identified priorities.

(2) (a) Each reporting hospital shall invite, at a minimum, representatives from the following entities to participate in the meeting described in subsection (1) of this section, if any such entities operate in the reporting hospital's community:

(I) Local public health agencies;

(II) Local chambers of commerce and economic development organizations;

(III) Local health-care consumer organizations;

(IV) School districts;

(V) County governments;

(VI) City and town governments;

(VII) Community health centers;

(VIII) Certified rural health clinics or primary care clinics located in a county that has been designated by the federal office of management and budget as a rural or frontier county;

(IX) Area agencies on aging;

(X) Health-care consumer advocacy organizations;

(XI) A member of the tribal council or the member's designee for a hospital whose community includes one of Colorado's land-based tribes;

(XII) A member from the urban Indian organization for a hospital whose community includes a federally designated urban Indian health center or urban Indian organization; and

(XIII) A member from an institution of higher education for a hospital whose community includes such institutions.

(b) In addition to the entities described in subsection (2)(a) of this section, each reporting hospital shall invite, at a minimum, representatives from the following state agencies to participate in the meeting described in subsection (1) of this section:

(I) The state department;

(II) The department of public health and environment;

(III) The department of human services;

(IV) The Colorado commission on higher education; and

(V) The office of saving people money on healthcare in the lieutenant governor's office.

(c) In addition to the entities described in subsections (2)(a) and (2)(b) of this section, each reporting hospital shall invite the general public to the annual meeting described in subsection (1) of this section. The reporting hospital shall issue such invitation in an advertisement placed in any major newspaper published in the reporting hospital's community, posted on the reporting hospital's public website and social media accounts or other online presence, distributed through the reporting hospital's electronic newsletter or email lists, and distributed by any other means through which the reporting hospital regularly communicates with the community it serves. The invitation must be published at least thirty days prior to the scheduled meeting.

(2.5) When presenting the proposed community benefit implementation plan described in subsection (1) of this section, the reporting hospital must:

(a) Present priority areas identified in the reporting hospital's most recent community health needs assessment and any other community benefit investment option recommended by the reporting hospital. Each priority recommendation presented must clearly identify the source of the recommendation.

(b) Solicit public input for any additional community benefit investment priority; and

(c) Review and incorporate the public feedback received before the reporting hospital finalizes its annual community benefit implementation plan.

(2.7) A reporting hospital may only add community benefit priorities to the reporting hospital's implementation plan if the community benefit priorities were presented at the annual meeting and the public was provided an opportunity to provide feedback. The reporting hospital must indicate that the implemented community benefit priorities are a result of reporting hospital recommendations and not from community feedback.

(2.8) The state board shall promulgate rules to define terms and establish specific processes regarding the requirements for reporting hospitals to solicit, review, and incorporate public input pursuant to subsections (2.5) and (2.7) of this section.

(3) To satisfy the requirements of this section, a reporting hospital may convene a joint public meeting with one or more other reporting hospitals that share some or all of the hospital's community.

(4) For each public meeting and community health needs assessment community engagement meeting held, each reporting hospital shall submit a report to the state department and make the report available to community members by making the report publicly available on the reporting hospital's website. The report must include, at a minimum, the following:

(a) Meeting minutes;

(b) A list of the meeting attendees;

(c) The content of the meeting discussion, including any community benefit priorities discussed and the decisions made regarding those discussed community benefit priorities;

(d) Community feedback received and how the hospital plans to incorporate the feedback into the reporting hospital's community benefit implementation plan; and

(e) Any data collected from attendees, such as data concerning race, ethnicity, or income.

(5) The state department must conduct a stakeholder meeting with consumer advocates, community organizers, community organizations, and hospital representatives to identify and develop, at a minimum, best practices to ensure low-income residents, residents of color, people with serious mental illness, people with disabilities, and other populations experiencing disproportionate health outcomes in local communities are meaningfully engaged and to ensure their input is incorporated into the data used to identify community priorities for the community health needs assessment and community benefit implementation plan. This stakeholder engagement must also include best practices for hospitals to collaborate with local public health agencies and community organizations to reduce redundant community needs assessments.

(6) The state board shall promulgate rules to establish accommodation standards for the annual community benefit public meetings and community health needs assessment that include language accessibility, adequate advanced public notice, and any other type of accessibility measures deemed necessary by the state board, and to implement the best practices identified and developed pursuant to subsection (5) of this section.

(7) The state board shall promulgate any additional rules that may be necessary for conducting the annual community benefit public meetings described in this section.

Source: L. 2019: Entire part added, (HB 19-1320), ch. 191, p. 2107, § 1, effective August 2. L. 2023: (1), (2), and (3) amended and (2.5), (2.7), (2.8), (4), (5), (6), and (7) added, (HB 23-1243), ch. 156, p. 670, § 2, effective August 7. L. 2024: (2)(a)(XIII) amended, (HB 24-1450), ch. 490, p. 3419, § 57, effective August 7.

Cross references: For the legislative declaration in HB 23-1243, see section 1 of chapter 156, Session Laws of Colorado 2023.