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The photo you see adjacent to this post is of a group of true believers who assembled on January 21, 2020 on the first floor of the Statehouse to call for a total repeal of the state Certificate of Need program. Earlier this week, Senator Tom Davis referred to this event humorously as “a few

PPI Senior Fellow Dr. Oran Smith is quoted in this Center Square article by T.A. DeFeo.

Effect of House 3M Committee Amendment (S.164) In both 2022 and 2023, the South Carolina Senate under the leadership of Majority Leader Shane Massey, Medical Affairs Committee Chairman Danny Verdin, and Senators Wes Climer and Tom Davis sent the South Carolina House a bill fully repealing Certificate on Need (CON). Certificate of Need is the

If you’ve watched Grey’s Anatomy or The Good Doctor, or if you have been admitted to a hospital for any reason, you’ve probably heard of “hospital privileges.” The term simply means that for your doctors to take care of you in any given facility, they must be given the “privilege” of doing so, a right

Palmetto Promise Institute’s Dr. Oran Smith testified this week before the South Carolina House Medical, Municipal and Military Committee on S.164, the repeal of the Certificate of Need (CON) statute. The following is taken from the testimony prepared for that hearing. The History of Certificate of Need (CON) The National Health Planning and Resource Development

The Governor has asked the South Carolina House of Representatives to fully repeal Certificate of Need.

“There is no data to support that these laws improve access to care. In fact, there's more than sufficient data to show that they're actually detrimental.” 

“CON laws were designed to provide oversight and prevent wasteful duplication of services. However, there has been severe overshoot of those goals resulting in suppression in new facilities and services.”

South Carolina’s CON program is one of the most restrictive in the United States. South Carolina requires a CON for 18 different services, including hospital renovations/new equipment that is over $600,000 and adding one or more hospital beds to a facility.

Certificate of Need is that odious, decades-old law that requires permission from the state (and often one’s competitors) to build a healthcare facility or even offer a healthcare service.