Senate Health & Human Services [Apr 01, 2026 - Upon Adjournment]

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Good morning.

Present.

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Welcome to the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.

It's an honor to be before you all and to introduce House Bill 26-1238. Now, when we dial 911, then essential services respond, and that 911 dispatch operator determines which of the three primary functions they're going to respond to that call. House is on fire. Got to send the fire department. or there's a law enforcement issue. There's someone breaking in the house. There's an accident on the freeway. You call the law enforcement. Well, that's who responds at 911. Or there's a medical emergency, and emergency management services responds. The first of those two, the first two of those, three, The fire department and law enforcement are essential services, meaning that they are required to be provided, to be funded by the counties, by the local jurisdictions. The one that has never been considered essential is emergency management services. So the struggle for them in funding is a constant, and they are always concerned about losing employees to better paying jobs. That happens a lot. The ambulance operators get hired up by hospitals a lot because they offer more consistent and better pay. But they are just on a constant struggle to be funded, and that's because they've never been considered essential. And that's what this bill would correct. This is one of those appropriate government provisions where when the emergency happens, then there's an essential that needs to step in and take care of the citizen that is in the crisis position. So this would simply elevate emergency management services to the same level as law enforcement and fire as a response mechanism and get them the essential status and financial provision that they have always needed and that we demand of them.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you for hearing our bill today. I am very grateful to my co-prime sponsor for inviting me to do this, to carry this bill with them. I think it's pretty clear that EMS is an essential service to all of our communities, and the agencies are stretched thin across the state in my district and in all of our districts. And this designation is going to help them provide essential services and to better coordinate with everyone else, so communications, infrastructure, all the things, the telecommunications help, mutual aid that our EMS services could better rely on. So I think it's a straightforward approach to opening the doors for more funding opportunity and better coordination across the board to save people's lives and improve public safety in our communities. So I urge an aye vote.

There you go.

Yep.

Thank you for this opportunity to speak with you today. My name is Mike Bateman and I represent the Health Facilities and Emergency Medical Services Division of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Our division oversees ambulance agencies and EMS providers CPHE supports House Bill 26-1238. We are grateful to Senators Baisley and Lindstedt for their leadership in working to acknowledge EMS as an essential service. A recommendation of the EMS Systems Sustainability Task Force and a first step toward ensuring that everyone has access to an ambulance in Colorado. Colorado EMS agencies respond to more than 900,000 calls per year. Many rural agencies are called to respond fewer than 1,200 times per year, which is the threshold for financial viability. If these low-volume agencies were to close, more than 42,000 EMS calls would go unanswered each year, largely impacting rural and frontier areas. As of today, six counties in Colorado currently rely on agencies from neighboring states to provide EMS services. Sixteen counties do not have a trauma center, and thirteen counties have no hospital at all. When definitive care is further away, the need for reliable EMS service is even more important. These highly trained clinicians provide initial, often life-saving care on scene and throughout transport of the patient. Designating EMS as an essential service shifts emergency response from an optional resource to a public utility. House Bill 26-1238 lays the foundation for making EMS an essential, consistently available service statewide improving equitable access to emergency care throughout Colorado. With these considerations in mind, CDPHE respectfully asks for your yes vote on House Bill 26-1238.

Good morning, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. My name is Timothy Deinst. I'm the Chief Executive Officer for UPAS Regional Health Service District up in Woodland Park, Colorado, and I'm the treasurer of the Emergency Medical Services Association of Colorado. I am here in strong support of House Bill 1238. At its foundation, this bill does something both simple and critical. It formally recognizes emergency medical services as an essential service in the state of Colorado. In practice, Colorado has long treated services like law enforcement and fire protection as essential services that communities rely on to be available at all times. However, EMS has not always been consistently recognized in statute in the same way despite being held to the same expectation. This bill corrects that gap. And that designation matters because EMS is not just a public safety function. It is a frontline healthcare service delivered in the out-of-hospital setting. Every day, EMS providers deliver clinical care at the patient's site. We assess and treat patients in real time, often determining whether the patient needs to enter the hospital at all. And in many cases, the care we provide in the field is the difference between whether a patient survives or does not. That is healthcare. This bill appropriately recognizes EMS as a critical access point into the healthcare system, especially in rural and frontier counties where access to hospitals and clinics may be limited. In many parts of Colorado, EMS is the first and sometimes only available healthcare resource. Importantly, the legislation also assigns EMS within a broader continuum of care, connecting pre-hospital response, unit facility transport, and community-based healthcare delivery. This alignment is essential as we continue to advance more efficient, patient-centered care models. The bill also directly complements House Bill 1069 by establishing the policy foundation necessary for modern EMS delivery. As Colorado advances models like treatment in place, alternative destinations, and more appropriate use of health care resources, EMS must be recognized not just as transportation, but also as health care. House Bill 1238 provides that recognition, enabling those reforms to function effectively and stable. Simply put, EMS is already an essential health care service this bill ensures our statutes reflect that reality Thank you for your time and for your consideration I too ask for an aye vote on 1238 Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to give a special thanks to Chief Tim Deinst, who testified remotely. He is the chief of the EMS in my own town, Woodland Park, where he first introduced this to me like five years ago by pulling me into an ambulance that was parked at his facility, said, hey, come visit me. And we sat in the back of that ambulance for about a 45-minute conversation on what all led to this and other bills that are coming through as a result of the Sustainability Committee that is still underway. So I appreciate Tim Deinst and his service to the community for many years, and thank you all for consideration, and I ask you for an aye vote on 12-38-39.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. You know, this bill is simply provided to the legal foundation that our first responders need to do their jobs and keep communities safe, so I ask for an aye vote.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move House Bill 26-12-38 to the Committee of the Whole with a favorable recommendation. That's a proper motion, Mr. Brown. Please call the roll. Senators Bright

Cutter

Doherty

Rizell

Weissman

Judah

Mr. Chair Mullica

Madam Vice Chair Thank you, Mr. Chair I, without any opposition, ask to put this on the consent calendar

Thank you

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Committee. Today I'm presenting House Bill 261107, which deals with health care in regulated facilities. It's a really simple bill that is a solution to something I think many people have experienced. Families looking to place a loved one in memory care have trouble accessing information they want or need to make in an informed decision. They don't always know what questions to be asking or where to look for that information. And I can speak from personal experience on this. My mother-in-law was in memory care for the last several years of her life, and there's all kinds of things to consider. And it's a really, I mean, I'm sure many of you have had loved ones that have been in some kind of care facility, and there's a lot to know and a lot to understand. So this bill just directs CDPHE to create a form to prospective residents and or families that includes dementia training requirements for staff, guidelines for using restraints and security features, how the facility involves family and activities in care, general fee models offered for dementia care, criteria for acceptance, transfer, and discharge of patient, and a website link that has payer source and past and or active complaints. The completed and updated form must be given to individuals who contact the facility seeking dementia care services and be available both on the site at the facility and on the facility's website. So I think the standardized publicly available information allows families to just really make an accurate comparison and good decisions when they're looking at a facility to place their loved ones, which is obviously a super important decision. So I hope that you can support this today.

Looks like this is on.

Sure. Chair and members of the committee, thank you very much for the opportunity to testify in strong support of House Bill 1107. My name is Jay Reinig, and I'm here on behalf of AARP as a legislative volunteer. AARP represents more than 670,000 members across the state of Colorado, advocating for the health, dignity, and financial security of older Coloradans and her family. But today, I'm also here as a son. Last year, my family had to find memory care for my 91-year-old mother. She had been living in an assisted living center for five years, kind of settled in. But because dementia set in, she had stopped eating, dropped to 87 pounds, and we were given 30 days to find a new facility that handled memory care. There are five of us siblings, and so you can imagine the chaos that can create. It was one of the toughest and hardest decisions we would ever need to make. We were trying to do the right thing for our mom while navigating a system that felt really confusing and overwhelming. Frankly, our heads were spinning, and we were under this deadline. Many facilities were advertising memory care, but it was difficult to know what that really meant. What training did the staff have? What kind of safety measures were in place? And really, what level of specific dementia care training that the staff had? It was difficult to communicate with mom, and if you didn't know what you were saying to her, she would often say no when she really meant yes. Families should not have to guess when making decisions like this. AARP evaluates legislation based on whether it helps people age with health, dignity, and financial security. House Bill 1107 moves us in that direction by requiring a standardized, transparent disclosure from facilities that advertise or provide dementia and memory care. When families are searching for care, often in the middle of a crisis like we found ourselves in, they deserve clear, comparable information about staff training and safety practices. Right now, that information is inconsistent and really hard to find. A uniform disclosure form developed with input from the long-term care ombudsman will give families clarity and help prevent misleading marketing. Other diverse states, including Oklahoma, Minnesota, and Indiana, have taken similar steps to this. AARP believes House Bill 1107 will make it an incredible, difficult decision more transparent and more humane for families like mine and quite possibly yours down the road Thank you for your time and consideration

Thank you

No, I do not.

This is a simple bill, and it's always interesting when something, and it happens frequently when something that we work on actually matters personally in your life, So it's really a pleasure to be able to sponsor this bill, and I hope you all can support it today.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move House Bill 26-1107 to the Committee of the Whole with a favorable recommendation.

Senators. Bright.

Cutter.

Doherty.

Frizzell.

Weissman.

Judah.

Mr. Chair Malika.

Congratulations.