The target of the lawsuit is Virginia’s certificate of need (or CON) program, which actually makes it illegal to offer new medical services or purchase certain types of medical equipment without first obtaining a special permission slip from the government. Under the program, licensed medical professionals who want to offer new services must first persuade government officials that their new service will be “needed”—and they must do so in a process that verges on full-blown litigation in which existing businesses are allowed to participate and oppose new competition. This process can take several years and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Frequently, the process results in new services’ being forbidden from operating at all.

“Virginia’s CON program is nothing more than the government’s permission slip to compete, amounting to a certificate of monopoly for favored established businesses,” said IJ attorney Robert McNamara. “Patients and doctors—not the government—are in the best position to decide what medical services and equipment are needed in Virginia.”

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