Appeals Court declines rehearing, accepts publication of CON ruling carolinajournal.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from carolinajournal.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A hospital involved in a certificate-of-need legal dispute is asking the full North Carolina Court of Appeals to rehear a case involving a proposed emergency department in Buncombe County. But a competitor and the state Department of Health and Human Services want the court to publish its original decision.
Mission Health is urging North Carolina’s second-highest court to publish a recent decision in a certificate-of-need dispute. Publication would give the decision authority as a legal precedent.
The outcome of a legal dispute over a new hospital emergency department in Buncombe County could depend on a state law requiring a public hearing. The state Appeals Court will decide in the months ahead whether the absence of a public hearing jeopardizes the certificate of need for a new Mission Health emergency department in Candler.
Carolina Journal reports:
A coal miners’ son. A powerful attorney. A defeated surgeon. Two college sweethearts.
All of them became caught up in a powerful system known as Certificate of Need. Certificate of Need laws give the state control of medical resources. Twenty-five people, an advisory board appointed by the governor, oversee the supply of hospital beds, medical equipment, and a host of other resources.
In theory, the system is supposed to guard patients’ access to health care.
But the system offers a wealth of opportunities to crush unwanted competition and hamstring smaller doctors’ practices. Under CON laws, incumbent providers can take their competitors to court and force them to bleed money for months, years, or even decades.