Bill Text: WV HCR134 | 2015 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requesting the Joint Committee on Government and Finance to study the Health Care Authority and the certificate of need review process
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 12-6)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2015-03-14 - To Rules [HCR134 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2015-HCR134-Introduced.html
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 134
(By Delegates Ellington, Householder, Arvon, Cooper, Hill, Kurcaba, Pasdon, Rohrbach, Sobonya, Stansbury, Waxman, Westfall, Fleischauer, Campbell, Longstreth, Moore, Pushkin and Rodighiero)
[Originating in the Committee on Health and Human Resources; Reported March 10, 2015]
Requesting the Joint Committee on Government and Finance to study the Health Care Authority and the certificate of need review process.
WHEREAS, The certificate of need review process was enacted by the West Virginia Legislature in 1977 and became a part of the Health Care Authority in 1983; and
WHEREAS, The certificate of need review process is intended to be a regulatory element designed to assist the Health Care Authority to control health care costs, improve the quality and efficiency of the state's health care system, encourage collaboration and develop a system of health care delivery available to all of West Virginia's citizens; and
WHEREAS, Unless specifically exempted, all health care providers in West Virginia must obtain a certificate of need prior to the addition or expansion of health care services, to exceed certain capital expenditures, to obtain major medical equipment or to develop or acquire a new health care facility; and
WHEREAS, The structure of certificate of need review varies widely from state to state and
some states have either repealed or limited the scope of the certificate of need review process; and
Whereas, In some respects the certificate of need review process in West Virginia has substituted
bureaucratic decision making for a free enterprise system; and
WHEREAS, Restructuring the certificate of need review process to better account for cost containment with attention paid to efficient allocation of scarce resources, the impact on effective delivery of health care services, a greater attention to balancing quality of care and service delivery with entrepreneurial insight and patient preference, and a focus on availability of services to the citizens of West Virginia through a more competitive free market may be needed; therefore, be it
Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Joint Committee on Government and Finance is hereby requested to study the
certificate of need review process within the Health Care Authority; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Joint Committee on Government and Finance consider an
alternative framework to the certificate of need review process more centered on a free market in the
delivery of medical care in health care facilities and equipment; and, be it
Further Resolved, That Joint Committee on Government and Finance report to the regular
session of the Legislature, 2016, on its findings, conclusions and recommendations, together with
drafts of any legislation necessary to effectuate its recommendations; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the expenses necessary to conduct this study, to prepare a report and
to draft necessary legislation be paid from legislative appropriations to the Joint Committee on
Government and Finance.
