Certificate of Need Adjustments
House Bills 202, 203, and 204 reenvision the Certificate of Need application procedure, and move the state toward a robust and vibrant healthcare model accessible to all Kentuckians. This post provides summaries of these legislative proposals. In addition, you can read summaries of each piece of legislation, as well as download the entire text of a bill or resolution, on the official General Assembly website, legislature.ky.gov.
HB 202: This measure increases the capital expenditure and major medical equipment expenditure minimums. In short, this would allow individuals and organizations to establish healthcare facilities without being bound to the Certificate of Need process if the cost of the project is below the expenditure minimums defined in the bill. As it stands, many healthcare operations are thwarted by the capital expenditure minimum due to the arduous application process that follows a project exceeding the minimum. This will allow for fewer projects to enter the Certificate of Need process, and those that do enter it will be more thoroughly considered due to the lower volume of applications as a result of the expenditure minimum increase.
HB 203: Currently, there are few medical services exempted from the Certificate of Need process. This is not conducive to the health and welfare of Kentucky’s citizens and forces many areas to be deprived of necessary healthcare facilities that would otherwise be in operation. This bill expands the exemption list to include psychiatric hospitals, physical rehabilitation centers, chemical dependency programs, hospices, home health services, kidney disease treatment centers, mental health services, and birthing centers, which are vital to our communities.
HB 204: Presently, dominant healthcare providers are afforded the right to veto applications of competitors entering the service region they operate within. This has many disastrous outcomes, but none worse than limited access to care. Populations grow, needs expand, and communities must be able to adapt to these changes by having a fair application process for medical providers wanting to operate in the area. This bill eliminates the dominant provider’s veto on Certificate of Need applications. This allows the applying provider to have a fair and public hearing that will allow them to show the need for service in the region. Other providers will still be a part of the process as their experience and expertise are critical to understanding the needs of the community, but they will not be able to stop an application process before it begins.