Committee reviews bill to raise monetary thresholds for health care certificates of need

A legislative finance committee reviewed H.96 on increasing monetary thresholds that trigger a certificate of need for health‑care projects, a measure sponsors say would reduce the number of projects that must seek Green Mountain Care Board review.

The bill would align hospital and non‑hospital thresholds, raise the capital threshold for projects from current lower levels to $10,000,000 for construction and capital projects, raise the threshold for a single piece of diagnostic or therapeutic equipment from $1,000,000 to $5,000,000, and increase the annual operating expense threshold for a new service or technology from $500,000 to $3,000,000 in the next two fiscal years if the service was not offered in the prior three years. It would also raise the conceptual development CON threshold for very large projects from $30,000,000 to $50,000,000 and make related adjustments to preparatory expenditure…