New Jersey Legislation Would Exempt Physician-Owned Emergency Surgery Centers From Self-Referral Rule
New Jersey State Senate President Richard Codey (D) on Thursday introduced a bill that would allow physician-owned surgical centers in the state to be exempt from a state law that prohibits self-referral, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Last year a judge ruled that about 200 ambulatory-surgery centers owned by doctors were violating the law. Although the centers have remained open, enforcement of the ruling could force them to close, according to Mark Manigan, a partner at a law firm that represents the New Jersey Association of Ambulatory Surgical Centers. The bill would allow centers currently operating to continue but would prevent others from opening.
The New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners earlier this month proposed an emergency amendment to its regulations that would broaden the definition of a physician's medical office to include a separate site where surgery is performed, allowing the centers to operate without violating the self-referral law. The amendment has not been officially adopted by the board and requires the governor's approval. However, a potential problem facing the state's emergency centers is that about 40 to 50 of them have outside investors, which would rule them out of the exemption proposed by the emergency amendment, Manigan said (Burling, Philadelphia Inquirer, 1/24).
