Medical facilities in New York could face a new 3 percent fee increase to build a new facility because of a proposal in Gov. Andrew Cuomo's $178 billion budget, the New York Post reports.
What you should know:
1. The proposal would force hospital facilities, nursing homes, diagnostic treatment centers and other clinics to pay a 3 percent surcharge and a 0.55 percent fee to try and win approval to build a facility in Albany, N.Y. These centers currently only pay the 0.55 percent fee to submit their certificate-of-need applications.
2. If approved, the fee could produce up to $70 million in revenue.
3. Assembly Health Committee Chairman Richard Gottfried, D-Manhattan, criticized the proposal, saying it would limit smaller and independent facilities. However, new facilities that are dependent on state funding would be exempt from the tax.
4. Mr. Cuomo's office defended the proposal. "It has been a decade since the State adjusted this fee for supporting administrative costs at the Department of Health, including oversight of the construction associated with nearly $4 billion in State capital investments to support these institutions, and this 3 percent adjustment simply aligns the structure to recognize operational expenses associated with this significant investment," said Cuomo spokesperson Freeman Klopott.