Urge Your State Rep to Oppose HB3657: Onerous, Costly CON Bill
April 19, 2021
STATE ADVOCACY ALERT
The Illinois House of Representatives is poised to vote on House Bill 3657, legislation strongly opposed by IHA that would make significant and onerous changes to the Certificate of Need (CON) process in ways that will discourage healthcare transformation and result in more service line and hospital closures.
ACTION REQUESTED: Contact your state Representative and urge him/her to vote No or Present on House Bill 3657.
To look up your Representative and her/his Springfield office contact information, click here (fill in the zip code box under “Find Officials/Look up and contact your officials” on the right side of the webpage). You can also send an email message to your Representative by clicking here.
Background
Under the current Health Facilities Planning Act, a facility must provide prescribed notice to legislators and the community regarding their intent to close and receive a Certificate of Need (CON) to close the facility from the Health Facilities and Services Review Board. Further, hospitals are limited to ending a category of service to one every six months. Among other items, HB 3657 changes the current law as follows:
- Adds significant reporting requirements to an already arduous CON application.
- Extends the already lengthy review period of all substantive CON applications by the Board to up to six months, even those not related to a closure or service line discontinuation.
- Permits the Board to add financial repayment conditions to a permit to close a hospital.
- Adds egregious fines for certain violations of the Act, upwards of $1 million.
See a fact sheet about the legislation (click here).
Talking Points on House Bill 3657
- I urge you to vote No or Present on House Bill 3657.
- The hospital community appreciates the concerns raised in response to hospital and service line closures, particularly in underserved areas of the state.
- However, the changes proposed in HB3657 are unworkable, will not improve quality or access to care for these underserved communities, and will discourage investment by hospitals.
- This legislation will cause more facility and service line closures by discouraging hospital collaborations and partnerships that are necessary to better coordinate care, improve health outcomes and address healthcare disparities.
- It will increase the cost of care and hinder innovation and transformation in an ever-changing and evolving healthcare environment. Hospitals and health systems must have flexibility to adjust to the needs of the communities they serve.
- The legislation ignores key components to the maintenance of a facility and patient safety, including the quality of care provided and the volume necessary to maintain that quality.
- The Illinois Health and Hospital Association and the hospital community have negotiated, in good faith, significant changes to the Certificate of Need process over the last 3 years. Such changes should be given the opportunity to work prior to a carte blanch re-write of the statute.
- Please vote No or Present on House Bill 3657.