How we check which plans include your hospital

What we check

For each county we list up to six places. First come its own hospitals, starting with emergency rooms. Then come the one or two larger hospitals people there travel to, and Children's Hospital Colorado. A county with no hospital shows its community health centers and the nearest hospitals, with distance.

For each one, we look for an official answer for every network sold in that county. A network is the group of doctors and hospitals a plan pays for. Our sources are the insurance companies' published 2027 network information, their online directories, and hospitals' published plan lists. We record whether the hospital is in network, not in network, or unclear, and the date.

Kaiser Permanente plans use Kaiser's own medical offices and a set of partner hospitals. For each partner hospital, Kaiser's directory lists which Kaiser plans it takes, so we record each of Kaiser's three networks separately. We list Kaiser's offices on each county page.

How often

Colorado requires insurance companies to update their directories at least every 30 days. We recheck during open enrollment, November 1 through January 15, and every three months after that. We also recheck whenever an insurance company or hospital announces a network change.

Every result shows the month we checked it. If a check is older than our schedule allows (45 days during open enrollment, 100 days after), the page says an update is due.

Why you should confirm with the insurance company

Under Colorado's rules, if you relied on an insurance company's directory and it was wrong, you pay what you would have paid in network. That protection applies to the insurance company's directory, not to our site.

So every result links to that network in the insurance company's own directory. Look up your hospital and doctors there before you enroll.

Hospitals and doctors are separate

A hospital being in network doesn't mean every doctor who works there is. Emergency doctors, anesthesiologists, radiologists, and specialists can bill separately. Search for each doctor in the directory, and call the office.

When you call, ask if they take the network by name on an individual plan. An office that takes an insurance company's job-based plans may not take its individual plans. Write down who said yes and the date.

If something looks wrong

Each hospital on a county page has a "Report a wrong entry" link that emails us. We recheck it and fix the page.

Common questions

Sources

• Colorado Revised Statutes 10-16-146: provider directory updates
• Colorado Regulation 4-2-60: reliance on an inaccurate provider directory
• CMS Hospital General Information
• HRSA health center service delivery sites

This guide is general information, not tax or legal advice. Connect for Health Colorado decides eligibility and tax credits.

More guides

• How to compare plans: doctors, drugs and the real yearly cost
• What a health insurance broker does, and how brokers get paid
• Where people lose money on health insurance, and how to check

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