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U.S.
Senator Ken Salazar
Member of the Agriculture, Energy and Veterans Affairs
Committees
2300 15th
Street, Suite 450 Denver, CO
80202 | 702 Hart Senate Building, Washington, D.C.
20510
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FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
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CONTACT: Stephanie Valencia - 202-494-8790
Cody Wertz – 303-350-0032
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Sen. Salazar Pushes to Expand Access to Health Care in Rural Colorado
WASHINGTON, DC-
In an effort to ensure that rural communities in Colorado have access
to health care, United States Senator Ken Salazar is pushing for the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid to begin the certification process
that would enable Pikes Peak Regional Hospital to open and accept Medicare
patients. In
a letter to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Michael
Leavitt, Senator Salazar asks that the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid begin the certification process so that the hospital can open
in October 2007, as planned, and bring much-needed services to an underserved
portion of rural Colorado.
“Colorado is such
a regionally diverse state where many rural communities lack convenient
access to quality health care,” said Senator Salazar. “The opening of
Pikes Peak Regional Hospital is a long awaited facility for those living
in rural central Colorado. I want to ensure that the hospital is able
to complete the certification process through the Center for Medicare
and Medicaid Services so that it can open without delay and provide
vital services to an underserved population.”
The Medicare certification
is required in order for the hospital to serve Medicare beneficiaries
and individuals with private insurance. The hospital, which is set to
open in October 2007, will serve as one of the only providers of emergency
services and medical care to those living in Teller, Park and western
El Paso and southern Douglas counties. In addition, the hospital will
provide laboratory, radiology and surgical care to thousands of residents
in those counties, who would otherwise have to go without such services
or have to travel great distances to access these services.
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