The House Select Committee on Certificate of Need Process and Related Hospital Issues meet today to continue hearings on the Certificate of Need (CON). Presenting to the Committee were Jeff Horton of the NC Division of Health Service Regulation, Hugh Tilson of the North Carolina Hospital Association, and Noah H. Huffstetler, III, an attorney at Nelson Mullins.
Mr. Huffstetler’s presentation highlighted the degree to which stakeholders have taken over control of the CON process. According to recent litigation, 22 of the 29 members of the State Health Coordinating Council (the body that issues CONs) were recognized as being employed by or affiliated with providers being regulated by the Council. When considered along with the fact that members of the State Health Coordinating Council are not bound under the State Ethics Act but only by a weaker Executive Order, North Carolinians may justly ask who is looking out for them.
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