Certificate of Need Laws: How Government Permission Slips Restrict Care and Raise Costs

Certificate of Need Laws: How Government Permission Slips Restrict Care and Raise Costs

In 1959, Milton I. Roemer — a physician and pioneering health services researcher at UCLA — published a study that would influence American healthcare policy for generations. Examining hospital utilization patterns, Roemer observed a striking correlation in insured populations: the availability of more hospital beds was associated with greater numbers of hospital days used. “A built bed is a filled bed,” he concluded. This insight, known as Roem…