Agenda - Council Work Session - 01/25/2022

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FIGURE 1 STATES WITH CON LAWS OR SIMILAR REGULATIONS SOURCE: NATIONAL ACADEMY FOR STATE HEALTH POLICY states, including Minnesota, continue to operate extensive health care CON laws or similar barriers. Minnesota's hospital construction moratorium prohibits the building of new hospitals as well as "any erection, building, alteration, reconstruction, modernization, improvement, extension, lease or other acquisition by or on behalf of a hospital that increases bed capacity of a hospital." Whenever hospitals or provider groups propose an exception to the moratorium, the Minnesota Legislature requires the Department of Health to conduct a "public interest review." Researcher Patrick Moran explains: In its review, the Department must consider whether the proposed facility would improve timely access to care or provide new spe- cialized services, the financial impact of the proposed exception on existing hospitals, the impact on the ability of existing hospitals to maintain current staffing levels, the degree to which the facility would provide ser- VT I NH a ILO 0" OH 714 State has CON Laws MA RI CT NJ DE MD DC vices to low-income patients, as well as the expressed views of all affected parties. [Em- phasis added] Moran continues: These reviews must be completed within 90 days of the proposed project. However, the public interest review is not binding. The Minnesota Legislature ultimately decides which exceptions are allowed to go for- ward. Except for the fact that the Legislature makes the final determination about each project, the public interest review process for new hospitals and hospital beds closely re- sembles CON statutes in other states. [Em- phasis added] The explicit purpose of the moratorium, as with CON laws more generally, is to restrict the num- ber of hospital beds. Indeed, Moran says: "Poli- cymakers hoped that the moratorium would be 2 • POLICY BRIEFING #004 I MINNESOTA MUST LIFT ITS HOSPITAL MORATORIUM