{"id":3322,"date":"2024-09-24T14:43:03","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T14:43:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/?p=3322"},"modified":"2024-09-24T14:43:03","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T14:43:03","slug":"states-efforts-to-alter-arcane-hospital-rules-mix-politics-with-drama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/?p=3322","title":{"rendered":"States\u2019 Efforts To Alter Arcane Hospital Rules Mix Politics With Drama"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Georgia is one of dozens of states<\/a> that require health-care facilities to ask for permission to build or expand by obtaining \u201ccertificates of need.\u201d Basically, state regulators get to decide whether a town needs a new hospital or long-term care center. If the need is deemed real, they\u2019re granted a \u201cCON.\u201d<\/p>\n

The intent of the decades-old system is to reduce duplicating medical services in an area, which, supporters argue, drives up health-care spending and reduces quality \u2014 an idea generally supported by the hospital industry, especially nonprofits.<\/p>\n

But some researchers are skeptical.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe evidence is pretty darn overwhelming that CON laws don\u2019t achieve the initially stated goals of increasing access, lowering costs and improving quality,\u201d said Matthew Mitchell<\/strong>, a senior research fellow at West Virginia University<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Some researchers argue the rules, which allow health-care organizations to file petitions to block competitors\u2019 projects, are weaponized by powerful health-care interests to assert market dominance. That\u2019s led a swath of states to roll them back in recent years.<\/p>\n

In Georgia, lawmakers felt the need to put special exemptions<\/a> in a certificate of need reform bill earlier this year to make sure the rules weren\u2019t impediments to efforts to revive two recently closed hospitals.<\/p>\n

The first exemption involves a shuttered hospital in rural Cuthbert, Ga. The carve-out could help an effort to reopen the facility as a \u201crural emergency hospital,\u201d which means it would receive more federal money but offer only emergency and outpatient care.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s much needed. People are hoping and praying we get it back,\u201d said Brenda Clark<\/strong>, a local resident.<\/p>\n

The second exemption concerns filling the gap left by the recently closed Atlanta Medical Center<\/strong>, one of the city\u2019s two Level 1 trauma centers. That carve-out clears the way for a potential new hospital that would partner with Morehouse School of Medicine<\/strong>, one of the country\u2019s few historically Black medical schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got a community that is struggling to find care in the wake of the Atlanta Medical Center closure,\u201d said Josh Berlin,<\/strong> CEO of rule of three, an Atlanta-based health-care consulting firm.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in the state, an effort to build a hospital in another rural county<\/a> showed just how intense debates over CON rules can get, especially when politicians, the health-care industry and communities have conflicting priorities.<\/p>\n

This drama involves the state\u2019s powerful lieutenant governor and his wealthy father, who wants to build a hospital in their home county, which both feel is needed.<\/p>\n

It calls to mind discussions over certificates of need in recent years in other Southern states, such as Tennessee, South Carolina and Florida<\/a>, where hospital regulations were eased as lawmakers looked to stoke competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis kind of a regulation is often there because powerful businesses want them,\u201d Mitchell said, \u201cnot because they protect consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n

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