North Carolina House and Senate leaders have agreed on a Medicaid expansion plan, but expansion is only part of the deal, the Charlotte Observer reported March 3.
Included in the plan are changes to the state's certificate of need law that had been pushed by the Senate. The deal reached by House and Senate leaders was a compromise, with limited changes to the law, according to the report.
The compromise appears to appease hospitals, which support expansion but until September opposed any changes to the certificate of need law, which helps reduce competition they might face, according to the report.
In September, the North Carolina Healthcare Association said it would support repealing certain requirements for beds for psychiatric and chemical dependency patients, according to the report.
Under the proposed plan, the construction or expansion of facilities that provide inpatient treatment of behavioral health problems and chemical dependence would be allowed without a certificate of need from the state's Department of Health and Human Services, according to the report. Equipment replacement and diagnostic centers that cost less than $3 million would also be exempt.
Rule changes would not apply to nursing homes, acute care beds, dialysis equipment and hospital operating rooms, according to the report.