From the Des Moines Register:
Since 1947, Iowa hospitals have paid $10 a year for their state licenses. That is one-third of what it now costs to license a bait shop in Iowa.
The inspections department has contended that the hospital license fee is unreasonably low, given the public cost of licensing and oversight.
The Legislature last week considered a proposal to increase the fee to $1,000. But in the closing hours of the 2008 session, an amendment introduced by Rep. Jo Oldson, D-Des Moines, changed the bill.
The amendment cut the proposed fee from $1,000 to $500 and stipulated that all revenue generated by the higher fee would be spent on “educational programs on regulatory issues for hospitals.”
The amendment also said those programs would have to be implemented in consultation with the Iowa Hospital Licensing Board, a state regulatory board made up of hospital officials.
Filed under: Uncategorized
