CON Update & Call to Action
To: North Carolina Orthopaedic Surgeons
The Senate released its draft of the state’s biennial budget late Tuesday night (5/9/17) with several provisions in it for repealing different sections of the Certificate of Need (CON) statute. The entirety of House Bill 901, Amend Certificate of Need Laws, which would repeal CON for Ambulatory Surgery Centers, is included in the budget bill, along with separate provisions to repeal CON for ocular surgery and hospice. Having the issue prominently addressed in the Senate’s budget bill indicates that there is support in that chamber for reform or repeal. We need to work to build similar support in the House as that bill moves to that chamber.
URGENT: Please Contact Your Legislators in Support of CON Reform
We need your help to ensure that CON reform remains in the budget bill. Please contact your House and Senate legislators by phone and/or email, and ask them to “Support Certificate of Need reform.”
House Members by County
Senate Members by County
Key Messages:
- More affordable healthcare is good for patients and for our state
- It is best for the North Carolina patients to have access to ASCs at least at the same level as the national average
- It is best for patients to have surgery in the lowest risk surgical environment
- Improved CON laws will help with physician recruitment, which will improve patients’ access to care
- Changing CON in 2005 for gastroenterology resulted in over $300M in costs savings for patients and the death rate from colorectal cancer was cut by 53 percent for those who had colonoscopies and whose doctors removed pre-cancerous polyps
- For these reasons, I ask that you please support Certificate of Need reform.
Also, Senator Chuck Edwards (Henderson Co.) is conducting a survey regarding NC’s CON laws. The survey is very brief, consisting of just one question: “Should Certificate of Need Laws be Repealed?” To view or participate in the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/7KPMD79
Finally, please follow @ReformCONnow on Twitter. If your practice has a social media account, you can also ask your social media account administrator to follow, like and share posts. The more followers we have, the more impact we will have on lawmakers and the media.
|