The North Carolina House Select Committee on the Certificate of Need Process and Related Hospital Issues (“CON Committee”) recently released a report to the General Assembly. The CON Committee’s interim report was issued in compliance with Section 9 of their Committee Charge. The thirteen page document provides a digest of what the CON Committee covered at each of their meetings, and concludes with a page on their findings and recommendations.

The interim report calls for more “transparency and accountability” on the part of the State Health Coordinating Council in developing the State Medical Facilities Plan (SMFP), and acknowledges public concerns that the State Health Coordinating Council may have “possible conflicts of interest.” The CON Committee also recommends that exemptions to need determinations in the SMFP be “greatly limited” to ensure that all applicants are subject to the same requirements. The interim report noted that the CON Committee heard concerns that capital expenditure limits should be adjusted for inflation, and that certain medical equipment should be exempted from CON review. While the report does not issue a recommendation on those issues, it does call for “an expedited process for appellate review in order to shorten the overall Certificate of Need determination process.”

With regard to the Certificate of Public Advantage (COPA) program, the CON Committee calls for “regulatory and judicial oversight” of all COPA agreements “to ensure that the benefits of cooperative agreements outweigh the disadvantages and reduction in competition resulting from such agreements.”

The Committee is required to issue its final report before the 2013 General Assembly convenes.