Legislation put forth by state Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County, to reduce regulations in accessing machinery, equipment and patient services for some health care providers was effectively killed in subcommittee on Tuesday.
Stanley’s bill, SB 910, would have created a three-phase process to eliminate the certificate of public need, or COPN, requirement for smaller, rural health care providers seeking to obtain machines used for MRI, PET and CT scans, along with other equipment needed for radiation therapy and other services.
In a 4-1 vote, the Senate Education and Health Subcommittee on Health declined to report the bill to the full committee.
In a phone interview before the start of the 2025 session, Stanley pointed out that there aren’t many hospitals in the largely rural Southwest and Southside regions. That can sometimes force residents to drive long distances to obtain medical procedures. This bill was an effort to remedy that, he said.
As it stands, the COPN program requires health care providers to obtain a certificate before they are able to secure new facilities or equipment or provide certain new services. To secure that certificate, a commissioner must first determine that a public need exists and has been demonstrated.
The process used to determine if a public need exists includes examining the relationship of the health care provider to the long-term health care state plan, the need for enhanced facilities to serve the population of an area and the extent to which the health care provider is accessible to all residents in the proposed area, as well as the immediate economic impact and financial feasibility of the project, according to the Virginia Department of Public Health.
“It’s an old, antiquated system that has to change,” Stanley said during an impassioned presentation to the subcommittee.
He argued that his bill would increase access to care in rural areas, streamline that care and create competition in the health care sector. He said the bill would reduce bureaucratic and regulatory burdens in accessing health care, and support modernization and innovation in the sector.
Brent Rawlings, senior vice president of the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association, spoke in opposition of the legislation during the meeting.
“It’s not the first time we’ve seen a phase deregulation bill. There was one filed last year, one filed in 2018. This has been before the General Assembly time and again; it’s been rejected time and again,” he said.
He noted that the COPN process should be reformed and improved and said the work to do so is already underway. He said that he sympathized with Stanley and the needs of Virginians in rural and underserved areas.
“The reality is that eliminating COPN will not fix that; in fact, we think it will have the opposite effect,” Rawlings said.