Action taken today in the Public Health and Welfare Committee of the Mississippi Senate could help one hospital while it worries others.

Sen. Bob M. Dearing, D-Natchez, is one of 37 Mississippi senators to sponsor Senate Bill 2367 to require the Department of Health to issue a certificate of need for Central Mississippi Medical Center’s north campus.

The Public Health and Welfare Committee recommended the bill to the Appropriations Committee Wednesday afternoon.

&uot;There are a lot of people who depend on (the hospital) – especially people who live east of I-55,&uot; Dearing said Wednesday.

The aim of Senate Bill 2367 is to secure a CON for CMMC specifically, but not to alter the present CON process, Dearing said.

But even Dearing admits that the bill will set a precedent.

&uot;But we just have to take each case on its own merits,&uot; he said.

In a CON process that began in 1992 and dragged on throughout the remainder of the decade, CMMC’s north campus in Madison was ordered closed Dec. 31 by the state Supreme Court. Methodist Healthcare of Memphis, Tenn., the previous owner of the CMMC, applied for a CON in 1992 to transfer 64 beds from its south campus to a north campus yet to be built. Hearings were held in 1993 and a CON granted in 1994.

Jackson’s Baptist Medical Center and St. Dominic’s Hospital opposed the 64 beds situated so closely to their facilities. The hospitals challenged the CON through Chancery Court and eventually to the state Supreme Court.

By the time the Supreme Court overturned previous decisions in support of the CON, the $40 million hospital in Madison was complete and operational.

Karen Fiducia, interim CEO for Natchez Regional&160;Medical Center, told Adams County supervisors Monday the bill could have negative ramifications.

&uot;Senate Bill 2367 is geared toward one hospital in Jackson to reopen that facility, but it will in essence eliminate the CON law in Mississippi,&uot; she said. &uot;If that one facility can bypass the CON law, it renders the law ineffective.&uot;

Mississippi’s CON law requires healthcare facilities and providers to apply to the state Department of Health for approval of certain acquisitions and expansions, to receive a certificate verifying the need for such services in their given area. The certificate of need reduces costly duplication of services, Fiducia said. &uot;Right now, (the CON law) facilitates reduction of additional duplication ensuring appropriate allocation of resources,&uot; she said.

Without a CON process, she said, &uot;a for-profit surgical center could come in and set up next to an existing hospital — steal paying patients — run the existing hospital out of business and then the community is left with only a specialty surgical hospital.&uot;

There have been dozens of exceptions to the state’s CON law over the years without adverse ramifications for the law itself, said Dr. Ed Thompson, Jr., state health officer for the Mississippi Department of Health.

&uot;You’re not opening the flood gates here,&uot; he said. &uot;If you’re going to intervene legislatively, this is right sort of case in which to do it.&uot;

An amendment to the bill requires that 25 percent of the reopened hospital’s obstetric patients be Medicaid, that 15 percent of all other patients be Medicaid and that 5 percent of overall patients be indigent.

&uot;They can get their CON, and meet a public need,&uot; Thompson said.

The bill must pass the Appropriations Committee before reaching the Senate floor.