Senate Bill 337 of The 2000 Session of the General Assembly Requires The Joint Commission on Health Care To Develop A Plan To Eliminate The Certificate of Public Need Program

The 2000 Session of the General Assembly passed Senate Bill (SB) 337 which calls for the elimination of the certificate of public need (COPN) program. The provisions of the bill require a transition period during which the program would be eliminated. The transition would begin on July 1, 2001, and would be completed by July 1, 2004. SB 337 further provides that the deregulation of the" program would be in accordance with a plan to be developed by the Joint Commission on Health Care (JCHC). In developing the deregulation plan, the JCHC was directed to:

• work collaboratively with the Departments of Health, Medical Assistance Services, and Health Professions;

• seek input from all classes of health care consumers, providers, and representatives of health care facilities;

• include recommendations for legislative and administrative consideration to carry out the elimination of the COPN program; and

• submit the plan to the chairmen of the House Appropriations, Senate Finance, House Health, Welfare, and Institutions, and Senate Education and Health Committees on or before December 1, 2000 for review and approval by the 2001 Session of the General Assembly.

A copy of SB 337 is provided at Appendix A.

Organization of Report

This first section reviews the authority and legislative directive for the JCHC to develop a plan to eliminate the COPN program. Section II of the report discusses the key components that must be included in the deregulation plan, and describes the process used to develop the plan. Section III provides information regarding various aspects of Virginia's health care marketplace that form the basis for several of the recommendations included in the deregulation plan. Lastly, Section IV outlines the JCHC's recommended transition plan for eliminating the COPN program.