Sen. Chris Kolker, a Democrat from Centennial, is among those fired up about the billing issues and said he is working on legislation that would set time restrictions on when contractors could try to take back reimbursement they already paid out for services, which one contractor attempted to do last fall.
The senator sounded off on representatives from the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing as the department asked the legislature’s Joint Tech Committee for funding of various programs. Kolker said he was so upset about the mental health provider issues that he would not vote to approve any requests from the department, although he later clarified that he did not intend to withhold votes over the issues.
“I’m going to make a suggestion: I’d like to see you pick up the payments to the independent care providers,” said Kolker, who has been meeting with mental health care providers in private practice. “Because this is coming out in the news. They are not being taken care of. Before I vote yes on anything from HCPF, I want that addressed.”