Certificate of Need Laws often impose unnecessary barriers to quality, affordable health care by requiring providers to gain government approval to open or expand facilities or offer new services. These laws often allow existing providers to object to new would-be competitors and use their incumbency status to influence government decision-making.
These laws require health care providers to obtain government permission slips to open new facilities or purchase some equipment, restricting access to vital services. While some states have repealed CON laws, a majority still have them on the books, including South Carolina.
For example, a private hospital chain in Charlotte, N.C. was allowed to stall the construction at the Piedmont Medical Center in Fort Mill, S.C. for 15 years due to CON.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor McMaster removed these restrictions on our hospitals, which empowered our health care providers to acquire the equipment, space, and beds they needed to fight the virus and serve their communities effectively. But when the state of emergency ended in June, these restrictions were put back onto hospitals.
We need state leaders to take action now to support Sen. Climer’s bill, S.290, to fully repeal our state’s outdated and burdensome Certificate of Need requirements.
Unless the legislature makes these changes permanent, our health care system will continue to find it difficult to increase health care access and provide critical health care services for South Carolinians. This is especially true in rural parts of the state, where certificate of need laws have long restricted the health care options of residents. It’s long past time for South Carolina to stop holding back health care providers from serving their communities.