MD Radiologist Challenges VA Certificate of Need Laws in Pursuit of Imaging Center

Matthew Skoufalos | | Radiology Business | Business Intelligence
A Maryland radiologist is challenging Virginia certificate-of-need laws in federal court, saying that the laws requiring him to demonstrate a patient demand for his services prior to opening a new imaging center are outdated and anti-competitive.Mark Monteferrante filed his suit with the aid of the libertarian public interest law firm, the Institute for Justice. In the past two years, the Associated Press reports, only 15 to 20 percent of applicants in the state have been rejected; however, Monteferrante says that the cost and paperwork are too prohibitive. His suit claims that Inova Health Systems, a division of which bought out his first Virginia clinic, holds an iron grip on the region. A lawyer for the Institute for Justice held that a legal precedent may exist to uphold Monteferrante’s claim, as “a federal appeals court struck down portions of a certificate-of-need law as it applied to pharmacies,” according to the AP.

Matthew Skoufalos

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