The new health care law prevents future physician-owned hospitals from participating in federally financed health programs, unless such facilities are open and operating and certified by Medicare by December 31, 2010. Under the law, expansions of existing doctor-owned hospitals will face restrictions, such as being located in states with a shortage of hospital beds, and in counties that are growing 50 percent faster than the overall state. Such hospitals could also request permission to expand, if they serve more Medicaid patients than other hospitals in their county. Physician-owned hospitals, which tend to be for-profit, have sparked rivalries in the hospital industry with community hospitals, which are usually non-profit. The community hospitals have gained sympathetic support from the American Hospital Association and from members of Congress, including Senators Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Charles Grassley (R-Iowa). In addition, Representative Pete Stark (D-Calif.) has pushed through Congress various laws that curb physicians’ ability to refer patients to facilities in which they have a financial interest.
About Sam Fish
Sam Fish has over 40 years of legal experience in federal and state human services laws and programs, having joined PCG in 1995 after serving as Chief Counsel, Region I, for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for more than 25 years. At PCG, Sam provides legal advice and counsel and has served on many projects that required legal research and interpretation and implementation of many federal and state laws.
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