Georgia lawmakers seek to ease certificate of need laws

Georgia lawmakers are seeking to further ease the state's certificate of need laws, according to a Feb. 6 report from The Augusta Chronicle. Georgia is one of 35 states that has CON programs in place.

The state's certificate of need law, passed in 1979, was enacted to comply with a federal mandate aiming to avoid duplication and reduce healthcare costs. It was adjusted in 2008 to exempt physician-owned ambulatory surgery centers with a single specialty.

The CON law has been revised twice more since, with the state Legislature in 2013 limiting the filing of objections to new facilities seeking a certificate of need to existing hospitals within 35 miles of a proposed facility, the report said.

In 2019, the application thresholds were raised, which were fully adopted in March due to the pandemic, according to the report. The thresholds require a certificate of need application from $1.3 million to $3 million for planned equipment purchases and $3 million to $10 million for capital expenditures, according to the report.

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