Over the past three months — when Denver was experiencing an unprecedented wave of immigrants arriving in the city after illegally crossing the southern border — the UCHealth system assumed more than $17 million in uncompensated care for the patients.

From November through January, UCHealth officials estimated that the health system saw roughly 5,800 immigrant patients who are new to the system. This represents a 69% growth in this patient cohort, compared to the same period in the previous year.

During this time, all immigrant patients accounted for 28,000 emergency department visits, outpatient appointments and hospital admissions — a 92% increase over the same period in 2022, officials said.

“We always put patients first, and we are proud to provide care to everyone who comes to our emergency departments regardless of their insurance or immigration status,” Dr. Richard Zane, UCHealth chief innovation officer and chair of the department of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, said in a statement. “However, the demands on our hospitals and providers as well as the amount of uncompensated care we are providing is now unsustainable.”

“All of the hospitals in Colorado need support for the costs of the uninsured, migrant patients they care for,” Zane added.

These numbers reflect only uninsured patients and excludes those eligible for Medicaid or who have health insurance. Medicaid, the social safety net for low-income people, covers emergency health care and newborn deliveries for noncitizens.

The $17 million in uncompensated care since November represents roughly 53% of the health system’s total unpaid care for the fiscal year starting in July.

“There’s no payment or government subsidy,” Dan Weaver, a UCHealth spokesperson, said in an email to The Denver Gazette. “UCHealth is a nonprofit health system, and we receive no funds from the state general fund.”

Weaver added: “Most of this will become uncompensated care — charity care — and this impacts our margins.”

Because immigrants without work authorization are more likely than U.S. citizens to earn less and lack health insurance, they tend to be more reliant on hospital charity care.

UCHealth provided $388 million in uncompensated and undercompensated care in 2022. Last year, this rose to $580 million.

UCHealth officials noted that this is not just a financial issue. Accommodating these patients, UCHealth said, puts additional stress on the health system’s facilities and staff.

Uncompensated care, which includes charity care, arises from patients not having health insurance and who are, therefore, unable to afford the cost of care.

UCHealth does not ask for people’s immigration status.

To identify these patients, UCHealth researchers counted individuals who either volunteered that they were immigrants, did not have a Social Security number or shared they are from another country.

Earlier this week, the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing raised concerns about the statewide increase in uncompensated care in 2022, when the first buses of immigrants began arriving in Denver, saying the influx is the “primary driver of increases.”

This comes as hospitals are already struggling.

A state report released earlier this week showed hospital operating incomes were precipitously cut in half from 2021 to 2022, casting blame on expenses that grew faster than patient revenue.

The Colorado Hospital Association — which represents more than 100 hospitals and health systems across the state — warned more than 70% of the state’s hospitals have “unsustainable operating margins.”

It’s not just UCHealth providing care to these new arrivals.

Denver Health, the city’s hospital safety net, has experienced a 700% increase across its health system over the past 14 months in the number of new patients from South and Central America.

Between 2022 and 2023, Denver Health saw its uncompensated care increase by $10 million, the bulk of which is believed to be related to the surge in immigrants, officials have said.

“It’s a difficult dilemma of how we best meet their health care needs when health care has not been part of the equation,” Dr. Steven Federico, chief government and community affairs officer for Denver Health, has said.

Over the past 14 months, Denver has welcomed roughly 38,400 immigrants at a cost of more than $42 million. About $14 million of that has been reimbursed by the state and federal government.

Mayor Mike Johnston, who has warned the costs could climb to as much as $180 million this year, has lobbied the White House and Colorado’s congressional delegation for additional funding for the city.

“Without question, HealthONE hospitals have experienced the recent impact of migrants entering Colorado,” Stephanie Sullivan, a company spokesperson, said in an email.

“Like other hospitals in the metro area, our emergency departments have seen the greatest impact resulting from walk-ins, transfers and EMS transports.”

For the past 14 months, HealthONE hospitals have seen, conservatively, a 630% increase by immigrant patients, Sullivan said.

The HealthONE health system encompasses a number of local hospitals, including Centennial Hospital, The Medical Center of Aurora, Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Medical Center and Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children.