Senate looks to revise certain CON laws

• An amendment in the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee this week would raise purchasing thresholds and narrow UMMC CON exemptions, among other revisions.

Prior to Tuesday’s deadline, the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee amended a House bill that revises certain Certificate of Need (CON) laws and tasks the Department of Health with conducting a study for lawmakers to consider others changes. 

Committee Chairman Senator Hob Bryan (D) introduced the strike-all amendment to HB 569, including language in the measure to raise the threshold for a medical facility to seek a CON when purchasing medical equipment from $1.5 million to $3 million. 

The amendment also increases the amount to seek a CON when a medical facility wants to build a new clinical and non-clinical building from $5 million to $10 million and from $10 million to $20 million, respectively.

“It’s the thought of the Department of Health and the House, and I agree, that these are circumstances where we feel the process of getting a certificate of need is not justified by the amount of the expenditure and this doubles the existing amounts,” Bryan described.

Another aspect of the amendment addresses the current CON exemptions at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC). Currently, UMMC is exempted from CON so long as any improvement to facilities or equipment is for educational purposes.

Senator Bryan said concerns have been raised that the exemption is too broad. His amendment would restrict that exemption to within the boundaries of UMMC’s campus and the Jackson Medical Mall. Any improvements or additions outside those boundaries by UMMC would be subject to CON laws.

William Carey University is also mentioned in the amendment for similar campus restrictions. Senator Joey Fillingane (R) asked to have the private university included in the amendment.

Bryan then seeks to have the Mississippi Department of Heath conduct a study on CON laws related to small hospital’s dialysis units, geriatric psychiatric units, and acute adult psychiatric units.

The main concern expressed in dialysis treatment is the high number of patient transfers between facilities.

“Because of the need for dialysis, [patients are] being transferred to other facilities, which is an inconvenience to the family, and so this is an opportunity to see if there is some remedy for that situation,” Bryan said.

As for the other treatment facilities, the aim of those studies would be to determine what impact, if any, removing CON laws concerning geriatric psychiatric units at small hospitals would have on care, while the study on acute adult psychiatric units would focus on leveling the playing field for facilities that do not see uninsured patients.

Senator Bryan said the study on acute adult psychiatric units would determine if there is a need to establish a fee to underwrite facilities that see high numbers of uninsured patients. 

The legislation could be taken up by the full Senate later this week.