In the midst of increased scrutiny of specialty hospitals by regulators and legislators, Reps. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) and Jerry Kleczka (D-Wis.) have introduced an amendment to the Stark Act that would limit doctors from referring patients to surgical hospitals in which the doctors are owners. Under the bill, physicians could only refer patients to hospitals they own if their investment was purchased on terms open to investors from the general public. It's unclear whether "on terms generally available to the public" means that a hospital must conduct a very expensive public offering of shares. Regardless, if Stark-Kleczka passes, you can forget about physician ownership of surgery hospitals.