By Spencer Hunt
Enquirer Columbus Bureau

COLUMBUS - State lawmakers are considering a freeze on the construction of new specialty hospitals in Ohio for two years to see if they siphon profitable patients away from community hospitals.

The proposed moratorium on these small hospitals that specialize in heart, orthopedic or other money-making procedures could emerge for a vote in the House Health Committee next week.

The issue arose in Greater Cincinnati last week when the area's biggest group of heart specialists, based at Christ Hospital and Deaconess Hospital, announced plans to build a 60-bed cardiac center in 2005, perhaps in Norwood.

Health Committee Chairman Greg Jolivette, R-Hamilton, said the moratorium he envisions would allow some hospitals that are already in the planning stages to be built. He said he supports the proposed $50 million Cincinnati Heart and Vascular Hospital.

"If their plan is to make it the premier heart center for the region, then I'm in favor of it," Jolivette said Wednesday. "I think that could be the model for how we have future developments and co-operation between hospitals and doctors."

Community hospital administrators say they rely on their heart and orthopedic operations to bring in the extra cash needed to offset the high cost of their emergency rooms and trauma centers. They complain that specialty hospitals "cherry pick" the most profitable patients, leaving them to deal with the more expensive cases.

The community hospitals support a bill by state Rep. Jon Peterson, R-Delaware, which would ban doctors from referring patients to hospitals they co-own.

Jolivette said the new bill would allow those referrals to continue. But no new hospitals could be proposed and built for up to two years while a special commission studies the issue. Community hospitals would be barred from punishing doctors who make referrals to specialty hospitals for two years.

"We want to look at what is best and fair for both sides," Jolivette said. "I think we ought to look at Dayton Heart Hospital, which has been in existence for three years, a physician-owned hospital, to see if these claims of skimming the good patients are founded."

While Peterson insists that specialty hospitals have had a negative impact on community hospitals, he wasn't opposed to the moratorium.

Tim Maglione, lobbyist for the Ohio State Medical Association, which represents doctors, said the moratorium proposal shows community hospitals don't want the competition.

"By all accounts, (specialty hospitals) provide superior quality care that is more focused," he said.

Mary Yost, spokeswoman for the Ohio Hospital Association, said her group hasn't made a decision to support or oppose the moratorium.

"What we've been saying from the beginning is, we're interested in stopping the proliferation of physician-owned, limited-service hospitals," Yost said. "It's very clear to us that this trend is only picking up steam."

The Dayton Heart Hospital opened in 1999 and is the state's only privately owned specialty cardiac care hospital. But there are dozens more specialty hospitals open or planned in the country.

A recent General Accounting Office Report found the number of specialty hospitals has tripled since 1990. The report also found that 70 percent of these specialty hospitals are partly owned by physicians.

James Tomaszewski, director of the Ohio Heart Health Center, which would build the hospital with Deaconess, said papers to build the facility were filed with the Department of Health on Aug. 20.

Tomaszewski said the new venture would share revenues with member hospitals and provide charity care.

Jordan Gentile contributed to this report. E-mail shunt@enquirer.com