State Sen. William Delgado introduced SB2593, which amends the state’s Ambulatory Surgical Treatment Center Act and would increase the initial license fee for ASCs in the state from $500 to $1500 and increase the annual license renewal fees from $300 to $1500.
The bill also proposes a new $50 licensing fee per bed for any license application to “open, conduct, operate or maintain” a hospital in the state, and an increase in home health agency licensing fees from $25 to $1500.
SB2593 also proposes the creation of funds, where the fees will be deposited, that would be used to pay for the administration of state ASC and hospital licensing efforts.
The rationale for the increases is unclear. However, Ms. Sullivan says the increases are “presumably another effort to alleviate the state budget deficit crisis, which currently is in the neighborhood of $9 billion.”
