Lawmakers look to curtail, ditch CON system

East Tennessee Republicans have filed two pieces of legislation taking aim at certificate-of-need requirements for health care facilities — one limiting their requirements, the other eliminating them altogether.

On Feb. 11, Sen. Mike Bell of Riceville and freshman state Rep. Mark Hall of Cleveland introduced a bill that would change the requirements for hospital CON requests. Their measure, SB1390, removes the requirement to file a CON in order to build a satellite emergency department facility or offer cardiac catheterization services.