Georgia’s decades-old certificate of need (CON) law governing hospitals and health-care services has never achieved its intended purpose and should be reformed or scrapped altogether, witnesses told a state Senate study committee Tuesday.

Congress passed the CON law in 1979 requiring applicants wishing to build a new hospital or provide new medical services to demonstrate a need in their community. But the federal law was repealed in 1986 because it wasn’t meeting its goal of reducing the costs of health care by avoiding duplication. Since the federal repeal, 34 states – including Georgia – have chosen to continue enforcing state-level CON laws, while only 12 have fully repealed their CON laws. Four have reformed their CON requirements to exempt certain types of facilities, notably nursing homes.

Critics of Georgia’s CON law have long focused on its impact on rural counties. Ten rural hospitals have closed since 2005.

Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, the study committee’s chairman, said the panel will hold two additional hearings in Columbus and Savannah before returning to the Gold Dome for a final meeting. The committee is due to release recommendations to the full Senate by December 1st.

State Senator Colton Moore who represents Chattooga, Walker, Dade and Catoosa Counties in the Georgia Senate has expressed his support for doing away with Georgia’s CON laws.