After recently rolling back certificate of need laws for hospital construction, lawmakers and advocacy groups are pushing for Georgia to totally repeal the certificate of need process and allow health systems to build new medical centers without proving that the community needs them, The Augusta Chronicle reported Feb. 6.
A conservative advocacy group, Americans for Prosperity, spent six figures on an advertisement campaign pushing for a repeal of certificate of need laws ahead of the Georgia General Assembly session.
The group hopes that repealing the certificate of need process will allow health systems to build more hospitals.
Some healthcare leaders are concerned that repealing certificate of need laws will hurt rural healthcare providers.
"A lot of out-of-state private equity money wants to come in and repeal certificates of need so they can build new facilities," Monty Veazey, president and CEO of the Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals, which represents the state's nonprofit hospitals, said. "[But] nobody's going to build a hospital in a rural area where they can't make any money."