Initiative #149

This aims to destroy the protections provided in the nearly 50-year-old Colorado Professional Review Act which the Colorado legislature overwhelmingly reauthorized after receiving a favorable recommendation from the Department of Regulatory Agencies’ 9-month sunset review. Professional Review (sometimes referred to as peer review) is the process to review and evaluate the competence, professional conduct of, or the quality and appropriateness of care provided by a physician, physician assistant, or advanced practice registered nurse. A professional review committee can evaluate if a professional could benefit from additional education, or if the committee must take an adverse action which must be reported to the state licensing board. The protections afforded to this process by the Colorado Professional Review Act encourage reporting of potential unsafe care, willingness to be reviewed, and open, honest and objective discussion among the reviewers. This initiative would destroy the “safe space” needed to foster an environment where physicians, PAs, and APRNs can critically review the care of their peers and self-report when there is an adverse health care incident or near miss in the interests of improving care for all patients.

Initiative #150

Health Care Availability Act

For health care in Colorado to remain both affordable and accessible for patients and providers, a balanced liability climate is essential. If the cap on non-economic damages is eliminated as proposed in these initiatives, the cost of liability insurance for providers and health care facilities will be significantly impacted. This will drive up costs to a point where Colorado will no longer be an attractive place to practice medicine. This impacts all Coloradans, particularly those in rural areas and high-risk patients requiring specialty care, by making it more difficult to retain and recruit physicians and other healthcare professionals. This limits access to care, contributes to the rising costs of care, and leads to decreased quality of care.

Colorado General Liability

This initiative affects personal injury claims for medical liability as well as general liability for any business in the state. Hospitals, facilities, and clinics as businesses, however, will feel a double impact. The impact outside of healthcare would be felt by rising costs of property and casualty insurance, auto insurance, etc. These costs would particularly be felt by any business that has land or a building where someone could be injured, owns a fleet of vehicles, or has direct to consumer services or products that could potentially cause injury. While these costs will fall on businesses, these “cost of doing business” costs get passed down to consumers, impacting the quality and affordability of life for everyone in Colorado.