We Tennesseans depend on our hospitals and health care facilities.

Whether it’s an injury, illness, emergency, or a celebratory moment like the birth of a child, our communities rely on dependable, convenient, and reasonably priced access to health care.

Offering unique services, and incredible teams of doctors, nurses, and other health care workers — our health care centers can do it all.

‘Black Men in White Coats’ event inspires medicine and science careers

I worked as a provider specializing in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery for over 33 years and previously served as chair of the Jackson Clinic, president of the Tennessee Medical Association and chair of the American Medical Group Association.

While I don’t speak for any of these organizations, those leadership experiences have convinced me that greater choices for patients can result in better access to affordable, high-quality health care in West Tennessee and across the state.

That is why I support the full repeal of Tennessee’s Certificate of Need (CON) laws. Despite previous reforms, the remaining CON laws continue to limit patient choice. We must make it easier to build new sites of care that Tennesseans can depend on. 

Quality, access and choice are key when it comes to adequate health care. It should be up to patients and their providers to decide where receiving care is right for them.

More options from various entities ensure that patients’ choices are affordable, provide quality care and are best for their unique situations.

Guest Column: Invest wisely — merge Regional One with Methodist University

More choices also help ensure providers are better able to care for patients. Competition ensures providers are also constantly striving to improve the quality and affordability of care.

Tennessee’s CON laws promote the opposite. They prevent new providers from opening hospitals and other facilities unless they first demonstrate a “need” for their services in the community.

This may sound sensible, but the CON process is lengthy, filled with unnecessary red tape, and overseen by unelected committee members who are not held accountable by voters.

To make matters worse, existing providers, not wanting increased competition, can lobby against opening new facilities.

Patients are left with fewer choices when it comes to where they receive care.

Guest Column: Why civic pride starts with you

The impact of CON laws on the free market is undeniable. The Beacon Center of Tennessee found Tennessee’s CON laws have cost the state 63 additional hospitals that could be operating today.

Tennessee is growing. By 2030, our population is expected to increase by 600,000 people statewide.

Blue Oval City, a massive economic investment in West Tennessee, will lead to even more significant population growth.

The need for access to health care services is clearly expanding and layers of red tape preventing facilities from opening only harm the state’s ability to meet that need.

Thankfully, we’ve made recent progress towards fully repealing Tennessee’s harmful CON laws. Our state passed reforms last year reducing the burden CON laws have on our communities.

Guest Column: Why we need a land expo in Memphis

However, Tennesseans continue to support a full repeal to empower patients over bureaucracy.

Our neighbors in South Carolina passed a comprehensive CON repeal in 2023, and that state has already seen a significant increase in access to care.

Multiple new hospitals and other health centers are currently open, preparing to open, or under construction in communities that need them.

Tennesseans deserve more choices and the opportunity to access the care they need closer to home.

To benefit patients, health care providers, and our communities, it’s time for the General Assembly to repeal Tennessee’s outdated CON laws and increase our citizens’ access to quality health care.