Mini Surgical Construction Boom Ahead?
Physician-owned hospitals might soon be able to add more beds.
P
hysician-owned hospitals have been prohibited from expanding
since the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act, but recent
reports highlighting their strong performance in achieving quality
measures could boost the prospects of federal legislation that would let
the more than 250 U.S. acute care hospitals that are partially or fully
physician-owned build again, under certain conditions.
The hospital lobby has long accused physician-owned facilities of
cherry-picking the most profitable patients, of providing limited or no
emergency services and of increasing the utilization of healthcare
services through self-referrals. But 3 reports issued last year by gov-
ernment as well as independent sources suggest that physician-owned
hospitals are among the industry's top performers in quality and
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Legal Update
John F. Williams III, JD
• ADDING MORE BEDS A mini-construction boom could follow if Congress temporarily lifts a new-bed moratorium on the nation's 251 physician-owned hospitals.
