Arlington, Va.-based The Mercatus Center researchers analyzed North Carolina's certificate-of-need regulations and how stripping these laws could benefit the state, according to The Daily Record.
Here is what the report found:
1. If North Carolina eliminated its CON regulations, the state could support 13 rural ASCs. The state currently supports 11 rural ASCs.
2. The report authors found repealing the regulations would increase the total number of ASC in North Carolina from 85 to 99.
3. More rural hospitals would open if North Carolina repealed these laws, as well. Without CON regulations, North Carolina would have 187 hospitals, as opposed to 132. The state would have 80 rural hospitals without the laws, instead of its current 56 rural hospitals.
4. Mortality rates would decrease if state officials nixed the law. Mortality rates would fall from 15.1 percent to 14.7 percent for heart attack patients.
5. Mortality rates from post-surgery complications would decrease 5.3 percent by repealing the laws.