HB 20, a bill that would make it easier for recently closed hospitals to reopen without having to get lost in lots of red tape (aka the onerous and expensive Certificate of Need (CON) approval process), has already cleared the Senate and is supposed to be voted on in the House today. If passed, HB 20 would be considered a tiny carve-out from CON, but a huge win for health care access – especially in rural areas. Today’s Carolina Journal reports on the issue:
Connie Wilson, a lobbyist working for CON reform to allow orthopedic and ophthalmology ambulatory surgery centers to open, said H.B. 20 is a small bite of the apple.
“But it’s an important bite because for years the large hospitals have been hiding behind the skirts of the rural hospitals, saying, ‘You’re going to hurt the rural hospitals if you change CON.’ Now we have one example that shows where CON really does hurt rural hospitals, and we’ve been saying that for years,” Wilson said.
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