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Pennsylvania House of Representatives
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=H&SPick=20150&cosponId=17094
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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

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House of Representatives
Session of 2015 - 2016 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: February 2, 2015 09:27 AM
From: Representative Florindo J. Fabrizio
To: All House members
Subject: Certificate of Need Program
 

I will soon introduce legislation requiring the Joint State Government Commission to establish an advisory committee to study the reimplementation of the certificate of need program in Pennsylvania.

As you may know, the PA Department of Health currently licenses health care facilities in our state. However, since the sunset of the state’s Certificate of Need program in the mid-1990s, there has been no statutory authority requiring health care facilities to prove that they are providing needed services to their communities in order to operate.

In the absence of such a program, there has been, for instance, a sharp increase in the number of ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) statewide. According to the PA Health Care Cost Containment Council, the number of licensed ASCs in our state has grown from 44 to 285 since 1996. The Council also reported in 2000 that procedures at ASCs only comprised 10% of the total outpatient procedures in Pennsylvania. In 2013, this figure was 31.3%. This upsurge in ASCs reflects an increased acquisition of expensive medical equipment, as well as a heightened pressure to pay for this equipment, often resulting in physician self-referrals.

In view of this, it is crucial to conduct a study on the viability of re-implementing the certificate of need program in Pennsylvania. Please join me by co-sponsoring this legislation.