A recent study from the economic research nonprofit Mercatus Center at George Mason University challenges the economic logic behind certificates of need.
The CON study analyzed data on CONs, healthcare productivity and economic impact from the Healthcare Cost Report Information System, American Hospital Association and American Health Planning Association.
According to the study authors, CONs act as barriers to entry to reduce the competitiveness, and therefore the quality, of the medical sector, though they increase the profitability of providers who do manage to obtain them.
Katherine Restrepo, a healthcare policy analyst at the John Locke Foundation, a political organization based in North Carolina, commented on the report and says CONs severely limit the ability of providers to offer "innovative services" to patients and uphold high healthcare prices, due to the restriction of the supply of healthcare providers.
In her analysis of the report, Ms. Restrepo notes the recent Triangle Business Journal article on the surgical trend in North Carolina where payers are incentivizing outpatient surgery; North Carolina's CON laws may create limits on efficiency and pricing improvements, due to the restricted number of outpatient facilities in the state, she writes.
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