GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1997

S	1 

SENATE BILL 906

Short Title:  CON Exemption/Open Heart Surgery.	(Public)

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Sponsors: Senators Hoyle; and Forrester.

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Referred to:  Rules and Operations of the Senate.

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April 16, 1997

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO EXEMPT CERTAIN OPEN HEART SURGERY PROJECTS FROM CERTIFICATE OF NEED REVIEW.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  G.S. 131E-184 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:
"( d)	The Department shall exempt from certificate of need review any proposal to develop or offer open heart surgery services, to acquire cardiac angioplasty equipment, or to acquire up to two heart-lung bypass machines submitted by a hospital that:
(1)	Has not offered open heart surgery services within the past 12 months;
(2)	Has not previously acquired or been approved to acquire a heart-lung bypass machine;
(3)	Is licensed to operate 300 or more health service facility beds;
(4)	Is licensed to operate cardiac catheterization equipment; and
(5)	Is located in a county with a total population, as determined by the most recent decennial federal census, exceeding 150,000 persons, and in which no hospital currently offering open heart surgery services is located."
Section 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.