Colorado Rural Health Center

What it reported doing in 2025

ADVOCACY: The 2025 Colorado legislative session convened on January 14, 2025, and ended 120 days later. This session was marked by a significant state budget shortfall, pushback to proposals from the federal Administration, and a historical battle between Colorado hospitals and the pharmaceutical industry. Of the 657 bills introduced, 476 bills (72%) passed, and Governor Polis vetoed 11 bills. The Colorado Rural Health Center (CRHC) tracked 93 bills and took positions on 25 bills with 93% of the bills CRHC supported passing. The Policy and Legislative Committee is a board lead committee with CRHC Director of Policy and Advocacy providing support for this committee including tracking bills pertinent to rural communities in Colorado. CRHC bill positions are decided by majority vote of the CRHC Policy and Legislative Committee (PLC) and approved by the CRHC Board of Directors. CRHC uses a bill tracker which contains links to Colorado Capitol Watch, where you can find the most recent bill text, fiscal note, bill history and bill sponsors. CRHC regularly publishes policy information in the monthly Special Delivery to inform members, partners and collaborators on policy related information. CRHC tracked 93 bills this session, voting to take positions on twenty-five bills, each corresponding to a CRHC policy priority. CRHC supported fourteen bills (56% of the positions taken), opposed four bills (16% of the positions taken) monitored six bills (24% of the positions taken) and an amend position on one bill (.04% of positions taken). All the bills with a CRHC position correlated with the 2025 Policy Priorities: Facility Reimbursement, Healthcare Workforce, Healthcare Access, Administrative and Regulatory Burdens, and Rural Health Investments and Sustainability.Throughout the session, CRHC testified ten times in committee hearings and coordinated numerous member testimonies, hosted 12 member-driven PLC meetings, secured numerous bill amendments, and made over 200 state policymaker touchpoints to achieve our policy goals. A summary of the 2025 bills, and their rural impact, are outlined in the final report which is available on CRHCs website.2025 was unique in the amount of effort that CRHC put into federal policy. With the Administration taking over in January 2025, we have seen an unprecedented number of Executive Orders impacting healthcare, public health and the standard operations of the federal government. These Executive Orders initially frozen federal funding impacting CRHCs ability to pull down funding of awarded grants and grants were zeroed out leaving an uncertainty of federal funding. Due to these changes CRHC made additional connections at the state and federal levels including to the CO General Assembly, Governor and HCPF.With CRHCs CEO serving as the Chair of the National Rural Health Association, this has afforded CRHC the opportunity to raise the rural voice for Colorado as well as all rural communities nationally. These meetings included Federal Democrat Delegation, HHS Secretary Kennedy and CMS Administrator Dr. Oz. Additionally, CRHC conducted many posts on social media, created a dedicated page on the CRHC website, and participated in many interviews.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 82.1%; rating input score 82
• Program expense ratio: 80.9%; rating input score 81
• Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 18th percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
  • Compensation committee: Missing
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
  • Written employment contract: Pass
  • Compensation survey or study: Pass
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: 76.3%; rating input score 76; 26th percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Limited
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -1.4%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.94; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.13; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 28.2%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 3.2% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 3.7% per year; rating input score 100; 27th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 0% per year; rating input score 100; 10th percentile among comparable filings