Republicans launch panel on health care regulation

(AP) Republican lawmakers have announced a study panel focused on loosening government oversight of new or expanded health care facilities in Virginia.

House Speaker William J. Howell and Senate President Pro-Tem Stephen D. Newman said Thursday they had created a new workgroup and were rededicating themselves to changing the state’s certificate of need law.

The decades-old law requires medical providers to seek state Board of Health approval for new health care facilities, expansions or major equipment purchases. The state hospital association successfully lobbied against a measure to repeal parts of the certificate of need law earlier this year.

Republicans and the powerful hospital association have repeatedly clashed in recent years over health care issues, including Medicaid expansion and the certificate of need.