More than 10,300 jobs could be lost in Colorado as a result of the 2-percent sequester of Medicare spending mandated by the Budget Control Act of 2011, according to a report released on Wednesday by a group of health care associations.

The American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association and the American Nurses Association said that more than 766,000 jobs could be lost nationwide as a result of the legislation.

The Budget Control Act is the legislation passed by Congress in 2011 in an attempt to control the growing national debt.

The Colorado Hospital Association estimates that the reduction in Medicare spending will cut Medicare payments to hospitals by $337 million over the next decade. The job losses that could result, according to the report, would have the biggest impact in the coming year.

The study shows that 6,600 of the 10,305 job losses that could occur in Colorado would come about in 2013, with the vast majority of those coming from the health care sector.

"The failure last year to find a bipartisan path forward on deficit reduction now stands to unfairly penalize one of the few employment sectors to provide economic stability over the past few years, and in turn threatens to reduce access to health care for all Coloradans," said Steven Summer, president and CEO of the Colorado Hospital Association.

A 2011 report by CSU found that Colorado hospitals contribute nearly $19 billion to the Colorado economy annually.