The North Carolina Senate has proposed its budget for the next two fiscal years, and it would allocate $29.8 billion in the coming fiscal year and $30.9 billion the following year to altering the state's health system landscape, including improving patient access to ASCs according to a May 16 report from North Carolina Health News.
The spending plan will allow for the placement of ASCs in any state county without a hospital. Additionally, single-specialty ASCs would be allowed to convert to multispecialty ASCs without going through a certificate-of-need process.
Currently, state certificate-of-need laws regulate how much spending healthcare facilities can undertake in a given geographic area.
The Senate proposal would also force state hospitals to cut costs in health plans for state employees by $125 million by 2024 or risk losing their licensure, according to the report.