Legislative efforts are underway to repeal Certificate of Need laws in: Missouri: SB 165, HB 622, HB 433 legiscan.com/MO/legislation/2019 Georgia: health-reform-effort-faces-potentially-formidable-opposition-at-state-capitol Florida: house-readies-renewed-push-on-hospital-regulations South Carolina: sc-lawmakers-file-bill-to-repeal-complex-health-regulations Alaska: legislators-revive-bills-abolish-certificate-need-program Tennessee: lawmakers-look-to-curtail-ditch-con-system United States: white-house-competition-report-highlights-certificate-of-need-laws But, there are others who continue to support CON, such as this New Hampshire editorial: con-laws-dont-impair-competition. BTW,... Continue reading

A certificate of need (CON), in the United States, is a legal document required in many states and some federal jurisdictions before proposed acquisitions, expansions, or creations of facilities are allowed. CONs are issued by a federal or state regulatory agency with authority over an area to affirm that the... Continue reading

by Phil Kabler , Staff Writer, Charleston Gazette-Mail Before they start offering new services and open new facilities, West Virginia hospitals shouldn’t have to go through a state regulatory process that requires them to prove that their patients lack access to those services, a legislative audit released Tuesday states. The... Continue reading

by Pat Bira, Guest Columnist Iowa has one of the highest quality, lowest cost health care systems in the United States. And at the heart of that system are 118 community hospitals that stand ready, day and night, to serve everyone, regardless of their ability to pay. A significant reason... Continue reading

by Emma Lamberton of Vermont Watchdog Certificate of need laws decrease the quality of care and increase costs, say two newly released studies from George Mason University. The finding has implications for Vermont, which has the most extensive CON laws of any state. CON laws restrict entry for new practices... Continue reading

Letha and I have a great time July 13-17, 2016, as we travelled to Chicago for a few days of vacation, followed by a terrific Macstock (second edition) in Woodstock, IL. To see a few of the pictures we captured in Chicago, just click on: https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0a5ejO17eav3t To see a few... Continue reading

by Richard Mark Kinkier of Managed Care Is health care a free market? Legislators in Florida and Virginia want it to be, so they are moving to scrap the laws that require health care providers to get state approval before they expand or add services. Meanwhile, hospital interests in several... Continue reading

by Travis Fain, Reporter for Daily Press RICHMOND – Some of furthest reaching hospital reforms of this session limped from one chamber to the other Monday, with supporters promising amendments before anything is final. House Bill 193 would overhaul the state's Certificate of Public Need rules, which empower state officials... Continue reading

by the National Law Review Weighing in on the growing debate around certificate of need (“CON”) laws, the Federal Trade Commission and the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (the “Agencies”) issued a joint statement on October 26, 2015, advocating the repeal or reform of Virginia’s Certificate of... Continue reading

There is an effort coming together to reform a corner of state government that is gatekeeper to health care provider expansion in the upcoming legislative session. Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, was chairman of a hearing Monday that highlighted how a bill aimed to reform the certificate of need program, administered... Continue reading

by Renee Montgomery, Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP There has been a lot of discussion about major changes to North Carolina’s Certificate of Need law. As these legislative discussions continue, the State Health Coordinating Council continues its work on next year’s State Medical Facilities Plan (“SMFP”). The draft plan... Continue reading

BY TAMMIE SMITH, The Daily Progress RICHMOND — Critics of Virginia’s regulatory system for approving new medical facilities and services say the process takes too long, is political and costs too much, but close to three dozen other states have similar programs with varying degrees of fees and restrictions. In... Continue reading

by Andy Meek, the Daily-News, Memphis The state-level approval process Methodist South Hospital recently cleared that allows it to pursue an $8.7 million emergency department expansion has been in legislative crosshairs in Nashville recently. Some lawmakers think the process by which the Tennessee Health Services and Development Agency approves or... Continue reading

By Christopher Curry, Staff writer An effort to deregulate new hospital construction continued to advance in the Florida House on Wednesday. The Health and Human Services Committee approved a bill eliminating the state’s required certificate of need review and approval process for new hospitals, replacement hospitals, conversion of hospitals from... Continue reading

CON laws stifle competition and hurt consumers. Veronique de Rugy | June 11, 2015 If I got a dollar each time the federal or state government promised that new regulations of the health care market would reduce the cost of health care—and it subsequently failed to deliver on that promise—I... Continue reading

by Jason deBruyn, Staff Writer- Triangle Business Journal A proposed law to bring major changes to surgery centers in North Carolina hit the legislative floor Wednesday. Already, House Bill 200 was referred to three committees, a sign that lawmakers will take it seriously. In short, the new law would deregulate... Continue reading

By Lody Zwarensteyn, Grand Rapids Business Journal Once again, our legislators have opened season on the Certificate of Need, or CON, program in the health care industry. Despite ample evidence of its success in foiling costly and grandiose schemes over the program’s 42-year history, once again some our legislators seem... Continue reading

from The State: South Carolina's Home page A panel of S.C. representatives began the work Wednesday of reviewing the state program that approves or rejects requests for new and expanded medical facilities. In 2013, Gov. Nikki Haley vetoed money that the Department of Health and Environmental Control used to process... Continue reading

Beaufort Observer -- Online Edition Katherine Restrepo, of the John Locke Foundation, is their health care policy expert. She recently summarized a major new study that calls into question the efficacy of “Certificate of Need” such as the one North Carolina uses. She writes: The Triangle Business Journal recently published... Continue reading

By MEG KINNARD Associated Press COLUMBIA, South Carolina — South Carolina's public health department must administer a program that regulates the building or expansion of medical facilities even though its funding was vetoed by the governor, the state's highest court ruled Monday. The ruling means that the Department of Health... Continue reading

County has prescription to cure bureaucratic block on hospitals By Augusta Chronicle Editorial Staff The irony is enough to cause cardiac arrest. In blatant disregard of the free market, Georgia’s Certificate of Need requirement (coincidentally abbreviated as CON) allows the state Department of Community Health to imperiously decide where certain... Continue reading

Written by Mark Sanchez Stepping into a debate that often pits the haves against the have-nots, Michigan legislators plan to investigate whether Michigan’s health care certificate-of-need regulations work as intended or need to be changed. While a work group that studied CON this past summer did not reach any firm... Continue reading

By Robert F. Graboyes / McClatchy-Tribune Forum American health care has no Steve Jobs or Bill Gates. No Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Burt Rutan, or Henry Ford. No innovator whose genius and sweat deliver the twin lightning bolts of cost-reduction and quality improvement across the broad landscape of health care.... Continue reading

Information gathered from Google Alerts (click on a blue link to see full story): SC Supreme Court to hear Certificate of Need case Kansas City Star COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Supreme Court agreed Friday to hear a lawsuit over whether the state's health agency can end a state... Continue reading

Information gathered from Google Alerts (click on a blue link to see full story): Ken Braun: Michigan's Certificate of Need helps hospitals, hurts ... The Bay City Times - MLive.com McLaren Health Care is suing the Michigan Department of Community Health because the the Certificate of Need commission shot down... Continue reading