Advocates of legislation to halt the doctor-driven development of for-profit specialty hospitals which non-profit community hospitals view as an economic threat said they believe there is enough support to move the measure (HB 71) out of the House Health Committee, an assessment the chairman of the panel did not share.
Chairman Gregory Jolivette (R-Hamilton) said he does not believe there is sufficient support for the measure in its current form. "Hearing from committee members, there's tentative support, but there's more support to see if there could be some changes to get their full-fledged support," he said after a lengthy hearing.
The bill that Assistant Majority Whip Jon Peterson (R-Delaware) introduced would ban physicians from referring patients to specialty hospitals in which the doctors have a financial interest.
One potential compromise: an exception for existing boutique hospitals combined with a moratorium on future development for a specific time period to determine the effects of the new centers on traditional hospitals. Rep. Jolivette said inclusion of a "grandfather" clause for existing facilities was a given. "I don't foresee the committee at all to say the people who've invested in the facilities have to sell them," he said.
Mr. Jolivette said he personally does not favor the bill as written, but might support a compromise version. "I see benefits from both sides," he said. "The community hospitals have a very good point, but also the docs. My personal opinion right now is ... doing the bill as it is would hamstring the doctors and give too much power to the hospitals," he said.
The Ohio Hospital Association is of the opinion that boutique hospitals violate the spirit of federal physician self-referral laws; exploit physicians' monopoly over the inpatient referral and admissions process; and damage the financial viability of community hospitals, threatening their ability to serve to their communities.
OHA opines that federal law generally prohibits physicians from referring Medicare and Medicaid patients to a provider if they have a financial interest in the provider. However, the law provides several exceptions that she said physician-owners of boutique hospitals are using to justify their financial arrangements. The AMC/NOMA actively opposes HB 71.