AFP Foundation-Mississippi Releases New Report Finding Certificate of Need Laws Leave Patients, Veterans, and Rural Communities Underserved

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| April 23, 2024

PTC_MS

New AFPF-MS report highlights how CoN laws protect health care monopolies

JACKSON, MS—Americans for Prosperity Foundation-Mississippi (AFPF-MS) released a new report highlighting the state’s costly Certificate of Need (CoN) laws that act as an unnecessary barrier for health care providers to treat patients across the Magnolia State. The report is the latest in AFPF’s Permission to Care series analyzing CoN’s harmful impact on health care in 10 states.

The report emphasizes how Mississippi’s 80 CoN requirements leave patients, veterans, and Mississippians in underserved or rural communities with less access to critical health care while also locking out the providers who wish to serve them.

Further, it points to how CoN fails in its stated purpose to “increase accessibility and quality of health services while avoiding unnecessary costs” as it is linked to higher costs, less access, and lower quality care.

AFPF-MS Deputy State Director, Cade Yates, released the following statement:

“Proper access to health care is vital to Mississippi residents across our state. Under Certificate of Need laws patients are not prioritized resulting in limited options in health care which often hurt rural and veteran communities the hardest.

“Our laws should encourage competition and innovation in the health care market to expand options for consumers and allow for flexibility for providers. These laws act as a barrier to receiving the care you need. Our representatives have an incredible opportunity to ensure that all Mississippians have access to the best health care possible. Let us follow the lead of other southern states like South Carolina, Texas, and Florida and improve health care access for Mississippians.”

AFPF-MS Report Top Findings:

  • Mississippi’s CoN program pits providers against each other to fight for government favor, diverting resources from patient care. Rather than appeal to patients, providers must petition the government’s central planners for permission to care, causing needless delays in development of critical health care provisions.
  • AFP Foundation-MS finds the state approved development of a digital subtraction angiography service to treat and prevent amputations due to injuries or illness, such as diabetes, in 2016 but legal wrangling between competing providers delayed the project for six years.
  • The state also approved deployment of an MRI machine in Lafayette County in 2016. Again, legal wrangling between competing care providers delayed deployment of the imaging device for more than 2.5 years.
  • Every Presidential Administration from Reagan to Biden urged states to get rid of their CoN laws, but only a dozen states have fully repealed them; however, Mississippi’s CoN program persists protect politically proficient care providers from competition by limiting the supply of health care at the patients’ expense.

CLICK HERE to read the full report

CLICK HERE to read an op-ed titled: “Mississippi’s Certificate of Need laws: Hindrance to healthcare progress”

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