Senate Bill aims at Specialty Hospitals

A bill which would strictly limit the expansion of physician-operated specialty hospitals was introduced in the Senate yesterday.  The legislation is backed by Senate Finance Committee head Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Democrat Max Baucus (D-Montana).  The Hospital Fair Competition Act of 2005 would permanently ban new facilities and impose certain restrictions on physician operated hospitals.  The legislation is the successor to a temporary moratorium on the construction of new facilities authorized by Congress in 2003.  The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid releases the final draft of a report examining the impact of specialty hospitals on the industry today.  

- see this story from the Hill