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House declines to advance bill removing certificate-of-need for major psychiatric hospital projects
Summary
Lawmakers debated removing the certificate-of-need requirement for large psychiatric and behavioral health hospital projects but the House accepted the committee—s majority recommendation "ought not to pass," 74-67, halting the repeal.
The Maine House on a roll call accepted the committee—s majority "ought not to pass" recommendation on a bill that would have exempted psychiatric and behavioral health hospitals from certificate-of-need (CON) review for projects over $14 million. The motion prevailed 74-67.
Supporters argued the CON requirement is a barrier to expanding mental-health and substance-use-treatment capacity. Representative Morris of Turner urged the House to pass the repeal, saying it would remove an additional obstacle for providers to build needed facilities and offer more services.
Opponents, including Representative Matheson and other members who spoke on the floor, warned that removing CON for inpatient psychiatric projects risks allowing for-profit, out-of-state hospital chains to enter Maine—s market and prioritize commercially insured patients while refusing to serve MaineCare beneficiaries and the uninsured. Representative Matheson said outpatient behavioral-health providers are typically not capital intensive and that the bill targets large inpatient hospital projects. "There is a real risk to eliminating the certificate of need for inpatient based care," he said.
Committee testimony and floor remarks noted a distinction between capital-intensive inpatient hospital projects and community-based outpatient behavioral health and substance-use-disorder services, which generally would not meet the monetary threshold for CON review.
The House accepted the committee report that the measure "ought not to pass," effectively halting the proposal in the House and returning the matter to the legislative process with that recommendation noted to the Senate.
