A top lobbyist for the N.C. Hospital Association defends North Carolina’s certificate-of-need restrictions, calling them necessary protections for hospitals and health care providers forced to deal with many other government-mandated rules and regulations.

Cody Hand, NCHA vice president and deputy general counsel, offered his defense of CON during a speech Monday to the John Locke Foundation’s Shaftesbury Society. His speech responded to an Oct. 13 Shaftesbury Society presentation calling for CON reform. The Locke Foundation has advocated repeal of North Carolina’s CON law.

In the video clip below, Hand acknowledges the need for reform but defends the underlying CON structure.

Click here to watch the full 44:25 presentation.