ATLANTA – State lawmakers have eased restrictions in Georgia’s certificate of need (CON) law over the years, making it easier for providers to build new health-care facilities or offer new medical services without proving the community needs them.
Now, a push is on to repeal the CON law altogether, bolstered by a six-figure ad campaign launched ahead of this year’s General Assembly session by Americans for Prosperity (AFP), a conservative advocacy group founded by the Koch brothers.
“Right now, state bureaucrats are middlemen, determining whether your town can get a new hospital or if your doctor can order a new X-ray machine,” said Tony West, the AFP’s deputy state director for Georgia. “Burdensome certificate-of-need laws are to blame.
“These laws force providers to get a government permission slip to open a new office or offer a new service. AFP-GA is calling on the legislature to repeal these laws.”
The upcoming debate under the Gold Dome promises to pit free-market advocates including the AFP against representatives of Georgia’s politically influential hospital industry, who warn that losing CON would be a disaster for health-care access, particularly in rural areas.
“A lot of out-of-state private equity money wants to come in and repeal CON so they can build new facilities,” said Monty Veazey, president and CEO of the Tifton-based Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals, which represents the state’s nonprofit hospitals. “[But] nobody’s going to build a hospital in a rural area where they can’t make any money.”
Georgia’s CON law was first passed in 1979 to comply with a federal mandate aimed at reducing health-care costs by avoiding duplication. About three dozen states currently have CON laws on their books.
Georgia lawmakers have gotten rid of some of the law’s restrictions since its…
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