CON is meant to improve access to heath care in rural areas, but it has failed to deliver on this promise. Because of CON’s flawed central planning, patients are forced to travel longer distances for outpatient surgery. (Source)
Over 70 percent of annual surgeries in North Carolina are performed in outpatient settings, and 70 percent of these surgeries are conducted in the highest cost hospital systems. Without CON laws it will be easier for more low-cost facilities like ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) to enter the market, providing more health care options at a lower cost for patients. (Source)
North Carolina burdens health care entrepreneurs with one of the most stringent CON programs in the nation, regulating over 25 services that range from organ transplants to acute care hospital beds to ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). (Source)