A Georgia House study committee tasked with reviewing the state’s health care regulations and determining ways to ensure access to high-quality, affordable health care throughout Georgia, heard from a number of stakeholders in the healthcare industry during Thursday’s opening meeting. Among the speakers was Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, who kicked off the meeting by emphasizing his focus on health care for all citizens of Georgia.
The committee was created by House Resolution 603 and will hold several meetings across the state this summer – including Augusta and Albany.
“For me, your charge is simple,” Burns told members of the committee. “To examine Georgia’s health care landscape and see if our certificate of need program needs to be modernized to better meet the healthcare needs of the citizens of his state,” said Burns. He reminded members that the CON regulations have not changed in nearly 50 years.
In his opening remarks, Burns thanked members of the committee – experts in the healthcare field and lawmakers – for their work on this topic and laid out a roadmap for the committee’s journey. He reminded them that affordable and accessible health care across Georgia has been identified as one of the top legislative issues for lawmakers during the next session of the Georgia General Assembly. He also praised Chairman Butch Parrish, R-Swainsboro, for taking the lead in this process. “There is no person more knowledgeable than Butch Parish on this topic.”
“What I care about, and what I know you care about – we want to deal with the facts,” said Burns. “Facts are pretty important. They help us come to the right outcomes, and that’s what we are interested in. I want this group to follow the facts and arrive at recommendations which improve access to quality, affordable healthcare in Georgia.”
“I really don’t want you to tell us what you think we want to hear. We need to know your honest and expert opinion, your informed opinion, on what will result in better healthcare for the citizens of this state. That is the only charge, and my only request.”
The committee heard from a number of stakeholders, including Samantha Scotti of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) who explained the origins of the certificate of need process which was first mandated in 1974. She pointed out that 35 states still currently have CON laws in place and provided comparisons between Georgia’s current laws with those in surrounding states such as Tennessee and North Carolina. Some states have limited CON regulations to long term care facilities and hospice.
Also addressing the committee in this organizational meeting were Russel Carlson and Karesha B. Laing of the Georgia Department of Community Health, Anna Adams of the Georgia Hospital Association and Jaimie Cavanaugh, Institute for Justice.
According to Adams, the Georgia Hospital Association put together its own CON working group at the close of the 2023 legislative session and held “very robust meetings about what the program is, whether changes needed to be made, what modernization we could come up with to bring to you during the next session. We want to be a partner. We want to be at the table.”
