The Michigan Senate Health Policy and Human Services Committee held a hearing on certificate-of-need reform Jan. 8, Crain's Detroit Business reports.
What you should know:
1. The Senate is considering two bills. The first bill would repeal CONs for adding psychiatric beds, but would require psychiatric hospitals to accept public patients and keep half of their beds available to public patients. The second would repeal CONs for air ambulance services and would eliminate restrictions around performing cardiac procedures in outpatient settings.
2. Hospital lobbyists said they supported updating the CON system, but did not support eliminating it. They said eliminating CONs would decrease access and increase costs, a frequently debunked argument, according to the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.
3. The Senate is working to pass legislation to save money on services and increase outpatient activity in the state.
4. The Senate heard several other CON-related measures in December, which were supported by members of the state's CON Commission.