The Massachusetts Public Health Council last week approved legislation that increases the state government's oversight of new healthcare construction, according to the Boston Globe.
Parties wanting to build outpatient centers costing more than $25 million will first have to prove that the facility’s services are needed and won’t duplicate those of existing facilities or threaten their business, the report notes. All proposed physician-owned surgery centers are subject to the same scrutiny, regardless of cost, says the Globe.
Massachusetts is the latest state to reevaluate its policies on the building of new healthcare buildings. In April, Georgia passed SB 433, allowing physicians and hospitals to build surgery centers without certificate of need restrictions.
Pennsylvania State Representative Phyllis Mundy introduced H.B. 305 last August in an effort to bring back the state’s CON program, which expired in 1996. She said the return of CON laws in Pennsylvania would limit the purchase of overused high-tech equipment and physician-owned surgical facilities that result in the duplication of services, and claimed the state’s "technical arms race" was "out of control."
Before her selection as Sen. John McCain’s running mate in the race for the White House, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin tried to repeal her state’s CON law for new healthcare construction. Like her ticket’s campaign, the bid ultimately fell short.
—Daniel Cook
