Hospitals in Colorado will no longer be able to sue patients under the names of their debt collectors after Gov. Jared Polis signed into law legislation that followed a lengthy investigation by 9NEWS Investigates and the Colorado Sun.

The practice, first exposed in a joint 9NEWS/Colorado Sun report, permitted hospitals systems like UCHealth to quietly sue thousands of Coloradans every year.  Instead of using their own name as a plaintiff – something that’s publicly traceable – UCHealth, for example, sued nearly 3,000 people per year under the name of its third-party debt collector between 2020 and 2023.

The move, derided by critics, made it virtually impossible to track the amount of lawsuits filed on the medical giant’s behalf.

House Bill 1380 sailed through the last legislative session and was signed by Polis late last week.

During an interview with 9NEWS Investigates reporter Chris Vanderveen earlier this year, UCHealth’s Chief Legal Officer defended the practice of suing under the name of a third-party debt collector.

“We are not hiding anything. There is no mystery as to what is going on here,” said Jacki Cooper Melmed.