A doctor suing to overturn restrictions on patient care just won his first victory. Special Superior Court Judge Gregory McGuire on Wednesday, Nov. 20, rejected the state’s request to throw out Dr. Gajendra Singh’s case, allowing Singh to continue fighting the Certificate of Need regime…
It’s illegal for him to treat his patients. By law, he can’t get an MRI machine because the hospital down the street already has one. Under certificate of need laws, state planners decide which medical providers can have medical equipment. In Dr. Gajendra Singh’s case, the…
Reforms to health-care regulations aren’t dead. Certificate of need reform was one of the bills sacrificed as scrap material for the piecemeal budget. As Republicans looked to push pieces of the budget past Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto, they stripped House Bill 126…
Certificate of Need reform could join the other health-care issues that are ensnared in the fight over the budget veto override and Medicaid expansion. House Bill 126 would have loosened CON laws, which require health providers to apply to the government for permission…
By the time it made it through the Senate, the bill to reform Certificate-of-Need laws had lost most of its teeth. But unlike its previous incarnations, this push to loosen CON laws actually passed the Senate, 24-18, and heads to the House. For decades,…
A years-long push to expand competition in the health-care industry passed the Senate Health Committee Monday and soon may reach the Senate floor. Under current certificate-of-need laws, hospitals and medical providers must apply to the state planning board before they can build or expand facilities. North…
A push to reform North Carolina’s certificate-of-need restrictions on health providers will make it to the Senate floor. A watered-down version of CON reform laws, House Bill 126, passed the Senate Rules Committee Tuesday, July 2. CON laws require…
Senators opposing North Carolina’s onerous certificate-of-need laws have no plans to stop pushing reforms. “I am still committed to CON reform, and we will make it happen,” Sen. Joyce Krawiec, R-Forsyth, told Carolina Journal on Friday, June 21. “We look forward to…
The struggle over Vidant Health, the regional hospital network affiliated with the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, escalated Thursday. In a radio interview, University of North Carolina Board of Governors Chairman Harry Smith said there are no plans “in any shape or form for UNC…
Legislative opponents of certificate of need laws are confident. This may be the year they prevail against the restrictive health-care regulations. But opposition from the powerful hospital lobby remains. Hospitals claim competition would hurt their bottom line. It would place hospitals, especially rural ones, at risk…
