Georgia's Certificate of Need (CON) law restricts competition in the health-care industry in violation of anti-monopoly provisions in the Georgia Constitution, a lawyer representing owners of a women’s surgical center told to the state Supreme Court on Monday.
"There is no health-care exception in the anti-monopoly clause," said James Manley, a senior attorney at the Arizona-based Goldwater Institute, a conservative legal advocacy group. "[The CON law] encourages monopoly and lessens competition."
Drs. Hugo Ribot Jr. and Malcom Barfield, co-owners of The Georgia Advanced Surgery Center for Women, ran afoul of the CON law several years ago when they sought to add a second operating room to their outpatient surgical center and contract with other surgeons to use the facility. After being denied a CON, they sued the Georgia Department of Community Health, claiming the law is unconstitutional.
The CON law requires applicants building new medical facilities or providing new health-care services in Georgia to show a need for them in their communities.
The General Assembly enacted CON in 1979 to comply with a federal mandate aimed at reducing costs by avoiding overbuilding and duplication of services. Although the federal government dropped the mandate in 1986, 35 states still have CON laws on their books.
"The CON laws were enacted to ensure health-care services were delivered in an orderly fashion and are available to all citizens of Georgia ... not concentrated in affluent areas," Assistant Attorney General Monica Sullivan said on Monday.
Sullivan also suggested that CON opponents take their case to the General Assembly rather than attempt to overturn the law through the court system. None of the lawsuits aimed at CON have succeeded in overturning the law, she said.
Georgia lawmakers opposed to CON have tried repeatedly to repeal the law but have not been able to sway enough votes to overcome opposition from the state's powerful hospital lobby.
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Mrudula Duddempudi.
