Colorado Code § 25-3-101

Hospitals - health facilities - licensed - definitions
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(1) [Editor's note: This
version of subsection (1) is effective until July 1, 2026.] It is unlawful for any person,
partnership, association, or corporation to open, conduct, or maintain any general hospital;
hospital unit; freestanding emergency department as defined in section 25-1.5-114; psychiatric
hospital; community clinic; rehabilitation hospital; convalescent center; facility for persons with
developmental disabilities, as defined in section 25-1.5-103 (2)(c); nursing care facility; hospice
care; assisted living residence, except an assisted living residence shall be assessed a license fee
as set forth in section 25-27-107; dialysis treatment clinic; ambulatory surgical center; birthing
center; home care agency; or other facility of a like nature, except those wholly owned and
operated by any governmental unit or agency, without first having obtained a license from the
department.
(1) [Editor's note: This version of subsection (1) is effective July 1, 2026.] It is
unlawful for any person, partnership, association, or corporation to open, conduct, or maintain
any general hospital; hospital unit; freestanding emergency department as defined in section 25-
1.5-114; critical access hospital as defined in section 25-1.5-114.5; psychiatric hospital;
community clinic; rehabilitation hospital; convalescent center; facility for persons with
developmental disabilities as defined in section 25-1.5-103 (2)(c); nursing care facility; hospice
care; assisted living residence, except an assisted living residence shall be assessed a license fee
as set forth in section 25-27-107; dialysis treatment clinic; ambulatory surgical center; birthing
center; home care agency; or other facility of a like nature, except those wholly owned and
operated by a governmental unit or agency, without first having obtained a license from the
department.
(2) As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires:
(a) (I) "Community clinic" means a health-care facility that provides health-care services
on an ambulatory basis, is neither licensed as an on-campus department or service of a hospital
nor listed as an off-campus location under a hospital's license, and meets at least one of the
following criteria:
(A) Operates inpatient beds at the facility for the provision of extended observation and
other related services for not more than seventy-two hours;
(B) Provides emergency services at the facility and is not otherwise required to obtain
licensure as a freestanding emergency department in accordance with section 25-1.5-114; or
(C) Is not otherwise subject to health facility licensure under this section or section 25-
1.5-103 but opts to obtain licensure as a community clinic in order to receive private donations,
grants, government funds, or other public or private reimbursement for services rendered.
(II) "Community clinic" includes a prison clinic operated by the department of
corrections.
(III) "Community clinic" does not include:
(A) A federally qualified health center, as defined in the federal "Social Security Act",
42 U.S.C. sec. 1395x (aa)(4);
(B) A rural health clinic, as defined in section 1861 (aa)(2) of the federal "Social
Security Act", 42 U.S.C. sec. 1395x (aa)(2);
(C) A facility that functions only as an office for the practice of medicine or the delivery
of primary care services by other licensed or certified practitioners; or
(D) A freestanding emergency department, as defined in and required to be licensed
under section 25-1.5-114.
(b) "Hospital unit" means a physical portion of a licensed or certified general hospital,
psychiatric hospital, maternity hospital, or rehabilitation hospital that is leased or otherwise
occupied pursuant to a contractual agreement by a person other than the licensee of the host
facility for the purpose of providing outpatient or inpatient services.
(3) Nothing in this section shall be construed to require the licensing of individual
services provided by a licensed or certified provider on its own premises.
(4) A health-care facility is not required to be licensed as a community clinic solely due
to the facility's ownership status, corporate structure, or engagement of outside vendors to
perform nonclinical management services. This section permits regulation of a physician's office
only to the extent the office is a community clinic as defined in this section.

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