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ACS boycotting state until CON law amended

Ambulatory Surgery Reimbursement Update, February 8, 2006

The American College of Surgeons (ACS) will not consider Georgia a potential site for any of its meetings until the state agrees to amend its certificate-of-need (CON) law, according to a statement on the ACS Web site.

The law requires multispecialty ASCs to apply for a CON and gives single specialties an exemption. The state considers general surgery multispecialty and therefore it is not eligible for the exemption, an issue that the ACS and its Georgia chapter have disputed through legislative and legal actions.

The ACS and its Georgia chapter have argued that the CON law discriminates against general surgeons and forces their patients to undergo procedures in hospitals instead of in ASCs.

". . . it would be inappropriate for the American College of Surgeons to consider Georgia as a location for any future meetings until this egregious policy is changed," wrote Thomas Russell, MD, FACS, executive director of the ACS in a letter to Gov. Sonny Perdue and George Israel, president and CEO of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. "If the state of Georgia cannot support surgery in this regard, then surgery cannot support bringing business into the state."

To view the ACS's statement, click here.

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