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LINCOLN — A Nebraska legislative committee has advanced a proposal to put a two-year freeze on construction of new hospitals so that a study can be done on issues such as the impact of new facilities on health care costs.
Legislative Bill 999 is particularly controversial in Kearney. The bill would put the brakes on construction of a second hospital in the central Nebraska university town.
The bill was advanced Wednesday, on a 4-2 vote in the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee, for debate by the full Legislature. A seventh committee member, Sen. Gwen Howard of Omaha, was present but did not vote.
Sen. Kathy Campbell of Lincoln said the state has not studied the impact of hospital building since Nebraska quit requiring permission through a “certificate of need” process in 1997.
The state has a keen interest in health care costs, Campbell said, because it helps pay for the medical care of the elderly and poor through the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
She said that if the Legislature conducted a study as an “interim” hearing, it might take less than two years, meaning that the moratorium on new hospitals could end sooner.
During a recent executive session, Grand Island Sen. Mike Gloor, a former hospital administrator, said he supported the moratorium and study because the construction of a second hospital in Kearney might lead to higher health care costs.
The issue of building a second hospital — which was approved Tuesday by the Kearney City Council — has split the community of 27,400.
Sen. Tim Gay of Papillion and Sen. Arnie Stuthman of Columbus voted against advancing LB 999. They have said that the Kearney hospital proposal is a local fight that should be worked out in that city, not in the Legislature.
Campbell said Wednesday that her bill has helped prompt new conversations between Kearney’s Good Samaritan Hospital and the physicians who want to break off and build their own hospital, the Kearney Regional Medical Center.
Contact the writer:
402-473-9584, paul.hammel@owh.com
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