Legislators in Tennessee have passed legislation that would repeal certificate-of-need requirements in the state, the Kingsport Times News reported April 16.
The bill passed out of the state Senate in a 28-1 vote, in concurrence with the House’s version. The bill has been scheduled to appear in front of the Senate for weeks, but faced numerous delays in the legislative process.
Those delays were addressed in an April 1 letter from the Federal Trade Commission addressed to Representative David Hawk,a Republican from Greeneville. The letter urged the Tennessee General Assembly to repeal CON laws “as soon as possible.”
Tennessee’s bid for funding as a part of the federal Rural Health Transformation program has been hanging in the balance of CON reform as CMS and President Donald Trump’s administration have tied some of that funding to certain policies at the state level, including the elimination of CON, according to a summary of the RHT published by the American Medical Association in September.
The bill now awaits final signature from Governor Bill Lee.
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