As baby boomers age, they’re driving increased demand for age-related healthcare services, including those related to the spine. UNC Healthcare is experiencing the uptick in demand and, thus, wants to build an outpatient satellite facility. It is a textbook case of an industry finding a consumer need and making plans to fill it.
But as I blogged yesterday in reference to another Triangle healthcare story, the state of North Carolina impedes the marketplace and imposes its will on which businesses deserve to expand and which don’t. We would all laugh if the state took a similar role in, say, the restaurant industry.
The Locke Foundation has, for years, been pointing out the absurdity of this public policy — known as Certificate of Need – but the law remains in place. That means you and I — and in this case, the baby boomers who are demanding specific spinal services — must wait to see if North Carolina will “allow” UNC Healthcare to respond to the marketplace.
