Bill to repeal South Carolina’s hospital approval law headed to governor

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCSC) – Healthcare in South Carolina might develop into extra inexpensive and accessible with the signature of Gov. Henry McMaster.

A invoice will quickly be on his desk to repeal a lot of the state’s Certificates of Want legislation, which has been on the books because the Nineteen Seventies.

Beneath that legislation, if somebody desires to construct or develop a hospital, or even when a facility desires to buy costly medical gear, like an MRI machine, they should obtain permission from the state by means of DHEC.

Healthcare suppliers which can be already in that space can then attempt to block these plans from being accepted.

This invoice, referred to as the “Healthcare Facility Licensure Act,” would eliminate most of that course of.

After senators handed the laws earlier this 12 months, the Home of Representatives accepted an amended model of it this week. Senators concurred with these modifications to ship the invoice to the governor.

“I’m simply glad that we’ve gotten to a spot the place sufferers get an enormous win at this time within the Basic Meeting, the place we’re increasing affected person selection, increasing the competitors, increasing {the marketplace} for healthcare companies, so sufferers have extra choices at a decrease price,” Sen. Wes Climer, R-York and the invoice’s lead sponsor, stated.

Beneath the invoice, most provisions would instantly go into place and not require state approval.

That features constructing new ambulatory surgical procedure facilities and physician’s places of work, repealing a $600,000 gear buy cap for hospitals, and transferring a hospital to a brand new facility in the identical county as its present one, with out growing the variety of beds.

It might additionally enable new hospitals to be constructed within the eight South Carolina counties that presently do not need one without having DHEC’s signoff.

The invoice would briefly maintain in place the present approval requirement in place to construct new hospitals in counties that have already got them, however that might even be repealed January 1, 2027.

“For lots of our hospitals, it takes that lengthy simply to get permits, plans drawn up, so it’s actually not that lengthy of an prolonged time period after we take into consideration the forecasting and the long-term planning that our hospitals do should do. And that is additionally a mannequin that different states have completed,” People for Prosperity State Director Candace Carroll stated. The group had advocated for the laws’s passage.

Nursing properties that wish to construct or develop even have get state permission, however the invoice would depart that present requirement in place due to federal rules surrounding these amenities.

Greater than a dozen different states have already completely or partially completed away with their certificates of want necessities.

“Everybody has come collectively on this problem and stated, ‘We wish to do one thing for healthcare in South Carolina. We don’t wish to be on the backside of the listing. We wish to have a wholesome constituency throughout the state,’ and this can be a method to do this,” Carroll stated.

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