Minnesota hospital bill rewritten

The measure still contains patient safety and financial disclosure provisions.

By Mike Norbut, amednews staff. April 19, 2004.

Minnesota physicians are crediting a grassroots political effort for forcing a legislative compromise on a bill they said would have created a certificate-of-need process in the state for freestanding surgery or imaging centers.

The new bill, which has support from both the Minnesota Medical Assn. and the Minnesota Hospital Assn., does not contain some original provisions considered controversial by physicians, including a prospective review by the state health commissioner for new surgical and imaging facilities and a licensing requirement for outpatient imaging centers. The bill has been sailing unfettered through legislative committees since it was amended.

"I would say it was a victory for physicians," said Paul Matson, MD, president of the Minnesota Medical Assn. and an orthopedic surgeon from Mankato. "We're satisfied with the compromise."

When the legislation was introduced in February, the MMA called it anticompetitive and sent an alert to member doctors asking them to voice their opposition to legislators.

The bill still contains its original patient safety and financial disclosure provisions, which were the two core purposes of the bill, said Bruce Rueben, president of the hospital association. The bill would call on physicians to notify patients prior to a referral to a hospital, surgery center or imaging facility if the physician has an economic interest in that facility.

[...]

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