NC Facing “Hospital Bed Crisis” as Certificate of Need Lumbers On
Exactly how bad do things need to get before North Carolina finally does away with socialist certificate of need laws?
Charlotte Business Journal is out with a deeply reported analysis of North Carolina’s supply of hospital beds. Their conclusion? “Early last year, North Carolina had a hospital occupancy rate of about 80% — one of the highest in the country. If unaddressed, the problem could reach dangerous levels over the next few years.”
But increasing the supply of hospital beds available to sick North Carolinians isn’t as easy as just increasing the supply.
That’s because the government, not hospitals, decides how many new beds get added and where. There’s no denying it: The availability of health care in North Carolina is determined by a socialist, not free market, system.
Just read the CBJ story to learn about it:
“Each year, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services publishes a state medical facilities plan, projecting needs for various facilities and services. The N.C. State Health Coordinating Council oversees the development of this plan, which involves various committee meetings and public hearings, before it is handed to the governor for approval.”
After that, medical providers submit long and expensive applications for government permission to offer medical services, including expanding the number of hospital beds available to patients.
It is insane.
The CBJ story lists socialist certificate of need laws as a major impediment to meeting the growing demand for hospital beds in this state.
“Because North Carolina has one of the most restrictive certificate of need laws in the country, the process can lead to lengthy delays and costly appeals” for hospitals that want to add more capacity, CBJ reported.
And the outlet offered a helpful example of the insanity:
“Novant Health has major operations throughout most of North Carolina, except for the Triangle, where it has a few physicians’ offices. However, last year the health system tried to make a big play in the area, filing an application for a 36-bed hospital in Knightdale that was projected to cost around $287 million.
“State regulators denied this proposal and instead spilt the 70 beds identified for Wake County in the 2024 State Medical Facilities Plan between expansion proposals from Duke Health, UNC Health and WakeMed. Those projects, approved in January, remaining pending on appeal.”
Again: It is insane to trust government to ration hospital services instead of allowing the market to meet the demand.
Sens. Benton Sawrey, Amy Galey, and Steve Jarvis introduced legislation this session to repeal certificate of need laws, continuing a fight that Sen. Ralph Hise has long waged.
North Carolina already has among the highest health costs in the entire country, in part because of certificate of need laws. Now the state faces a looming hospital bed supply crisis.
How bad do things need to get before socialist certificate of need laws are finally repealed?
