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Senator Stutz reintroduces bill to exempt rural counties from Certificate of Need to speed use of $203M in federal rural health funds
Summary
SB 82 would exempt qualifying rural counties (about 46 by the bill's use of the federal rural definition) from Certificate of Need review so providers can use $203,000,000 in federal rural health dollars more quickly; sponsor asked colleagues to form a subcommittee and carried the bill over for revisions.
Senator Stutz introduced SB 82, saying the state is due to receive $203,000,000 in federal rural health funding and that Certificate of Need (CON) rules are an unnecessary barrier for rural providers seeking to expand services. "We have, this $203,000,000 of federal money coming to save our rural health care system," he said, adding that the CON process can take "1 to 2 years" and cost applicants tens of thousands of dollars.
The bill would exempt certain projects in counties that meet the federal definition of rural — Stutz estimated about 46 counties — from CON review. Stutz told colleagues the state's restrictive CON law likely reduced the discretionary portion of the federal appropriation and that the exemption would let rural providers move faster to add services. "If we're gonna put a lot of money in the rural health care, we don't need to have any unnecessary barriers to them being able to expand," he said.
Miss Coleman, Madison said she generally supported removing barriers but asked about language on page 13 describing which institutional services would be excluded from review; Stutz replied that exempt projects would still have to meet service-specific standards. "You file a detailed application that costs tens of thousands of dollars," Stutz said of the CON process, describing appeals and administrative hearings that can extend a project for years. Senator Bell asked which definition of "rural" the bill uses; Stutz said the federal definition is used and that the list of qualifying counties could be adjusted.
Senator Weaver, who has chaired the rural roadmap health work, cautioned against private entities "cherry-picking" profitable services from fragile rural providers and urged safeguards to protect existing local providers. In response, the chair asked senators Stutz, Weaver, Caban, Beasley and Stewart to form a small group to draft revisions and return with language; Stutz agreed to meet next week with staff to produce a proposal.
No formal vote on SB 82 was taken today; the sponsor said he would carry the bill over to allow the subcommittee to finish language and prepare a version members could pass.
The committee left the bill pending further drafting and scheduling by the sponsor and subcommittee.
