Author: reporter

By Phil Galewitz, KFF Health News Nonprofit hospitals created largely to serve the poor are adding concierge physician practices, charging patients annual membership fees of $2,000 or more for easier access to their doctors. It’s a trend that began decades ago with physician practices. Thousands of doctors have shifted to the concierge model, in which they can increase their income while decreasing their patient load. Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, Penn Medicine in Philadelphia, University Hospitals in the Cleveland area, and Baptist Health in Miami are among the large hospital systems offering concierge physician services. The fees, which can exceed $4,000…

The father of a 22-month-old Brighton girl who died after ingesting 10 times the lethal dose of fentanyl was sentenced to 40 years in prison on Thursday. Alonzo Ray Montoya, 33, was found guilty in the death of his daughter, Aviyana Montoya, by an Adams County jury in January. Aviyana was found unresponsive in her crib on the afternoon of Jan. 2, 2022, nearly 14 hours after she was placed there by her parents, according to police reports. Montoya was accused of running a drug-dealing operation out of the home, with surveillance video showing drugs being sold and used before,…

Friday’s pitching matchup Rays RHP Zack Little (1-0, 0.00 ERA) at Rockies LHP Austin Gomber (0-0, 7.71) 2:10 p.m. Friday, Coors Field TV: Rockies.TV (streaming); Comcast/Xfinity (channel 1262); DirecTV (683); Spectrum (130, 445, 305, 435 or 445, depending on region). Radio: 850 AM/94.1 FM Little looked strong in his season debut last weekend, throwing six innings of scoreless baseball in a 4-1 win over Toronto, with four hits and two walks to six strikeouts. In 26 games (14 starts) for the Rays last year, he was consistent, with a 3.93 ERA and 1.15 WHIP. Colorado’s seen little of him, although Elias…

Did ya hear the one about the Rockies? Lordy, is Bob Meddles sick and tired of being baseball’s punchline. Which is kinda funny, given how the guy’s been a stalwart of Denver’s stand-up comedy scene for almost two decades running. “I had rotator cuff surgery. I was on (OxyContin) and at the end I was still feeling a lot of pain,” Meddles told me when I asked for his best printable Rockies joke. “I talked to the doctor. The doctor said, ‘That stuff is highly addictive.’ I said, ‘Well, I’m also a Rockies fan.’ And he hooked me up for…

This season, the Colorado women’s basketball team had its largest class of freshmen in several years. Most of that group won’t be in Boulder next season, however. On Thursday, guards Jadyn Atchison and Lele Tanuvasa and forward Ruthie Loomis-Goltl put their names into the NCAA transfer portal after just one season with the Buffaloes. Another freshman, Mikayla Johnson, put her name into the transfer portal on Tuesday. Point guard Kennedy Sanders is the only member of the five-player 2023 class that is expected to return to CU next season. Atchison, a 6-foot-1 guard from Cedar Hill (Texas) High School, played…

Ten years ago, Chuck got “Nazty.” First, there was the birth of The Beard. Then he played one of the greatest games in Rockies history. “That one game, you could almost say, single-handedly turned my career around,” Charlie Blackmon said. The date was April 4, 2014 — opening day in LoDo, with 49,130 packed into Coors Field to witness what became one of the most iconic performances of Blackmon’s career. Sporting the beginnings of his famed beard, Blackmon hit 6-for-6 with one home run, three doubles, two singles and five RBIs in Colorado’s 12-2 win over Arizona. “I remember it well…

Colorado boasts of the most tightly regulated, cleanest, and safest oil and gas industry in the nation. Nevertheless, Democrats in the state legislature have proposed several bills that would have catastrophic consequences for the Colorado economy, destroy vast numbers of jobs, and — contrary to false, misleading claims by proponents — would do little to reduce greenhouse gases, and may even increase emissions. Colorado’s crude oil industry is the fourth largest in the nation and the eighth largest in the production of natural gas. Oil and natural gas production is nearly 90% of the state’s total mineral and energy production…

The Broncos continue to add veteran options to their offensive line group. Denver signed center Sam Mustipher to a one-year deal, the team announced Thursday. Mustipher, 27, spent 2023 in Baltimore and was in Chicago for the first four years of his career. Mustipher went undrafted out of Notre Dame in 2019 and spent his rookie year on the practice squad. Then he played in nine games and starting seven for the Bears in 2020 before spending two seasons as the team’s full-time starter. Mustipher appeared in nine games last year, started the second and third weeks of the season…

A new nonstop Turkish Airlines flight from Denver International Airport will carry travelers 6,130 miles between Denver and Istanbul — the longest flight from DIA and the latest in Colorado’s expansion of global connections. The recruitment of Turkish Airlines brings the number of airlines at DIA to 26. Searches on Google on Thursday morning showed flights available three days a week, starting June 11, for around $1,329 roundtrip. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and DIA chief executive Phil Washington announced the flight Thursday morning, celebrating a milestone in efforts to link the Rocky Mountain West with the rest of the world.…

Doing good for families, the arts, the outdoors and public health is also good for Colorado’s bottom line, according to a new report that says nonprofits contributed $62 billion to the state’s annual economy and supported 262,000 jobs. The jobs directly and indirectly tied to nonprofit organizations employ more people than the agriculture, mining, and information industries combined, according to a report released Thursday by the Colorado Nonprofit Association. However, the nonprofit sector has lagged behind other industries in recovering from the recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, analysts said. The 34,251 nonprofits registered in Colorado injected $25 billion into…