Certificate of Need News
Lawmakers ease health-care regs
2/27/2009
Freshly inked health-care legislation eases the regulatory migraine hospitals must endure each time they want to expand facilities and services.
But the new law will likely induce financial heartburn in hospital C-suites as changes to the state's regulatory process make way for new threats to hospital revenues, already under pressure from swooning Medicaid, Medicare and insurance reimbursements.
When Gov. Sonny Perdue put his John Hancock on certificate-of-need (CON) reform legislation April 9, he transformed an antiquated, expensive and time-sapping process into what some view as a leaner, meaner system. Georgia's CON rules, last overhauled nearly two decades ago, govern hospital construction and the addition of new medical technology and services. The process aims to prevent over-building and ensure quality of care.
Read this article by Urvaksh Karkaria from the April 18, 2008 issue of the Business Chronicle.
