A press conference is scheduled for today at noon on reforming North Carolina’s onerous Certificate of Need (CON) law. Representative Marilyn Avila will discuss House Bill 200, legislation that would open up competition within the health care sector by allowing medical providers to provide services at a lower cost to patients without needing permission from state bureaucrats.
Dan Way’s article in today’s Carolina Journal explains:
If passed, the legislation would exempt diagnostic centers, ambulatory surgical facilities, gastrointestinal endoscopy rooms, and psychiatric hospitals from certificate of need review. It also would prohibit the state medical facilities plan from limiting the number of operating rooms and gastrointestinal endoscopy rooms.
A certificate of need is basically a permission slip from the government to provide a medical service. The lengthy, and usually costly, process can pit hospitals against hospitals, or hospitals against smaller, standalone competitors and doctors’ practices.
Avila said one intention of her bill is to eliminate the “artificial control of supply and demand” in the health care market.
