The health care overhaul legislation may pose a financial threat to plans for a new physician-owned hospital in Kearney.
The Senate and House bills contain cutoff dates for such hospitals to obtain Medicare certification - dates the hospital likely can't meet, given that it's not scheduled to open until spring 2011.
Experts say that without such certification, the hospital can't be reimbursed for Medicare patients and would have a tougher time with private insurers.
But organizers of the new, $20 million hospital project say they're still moving forward with the plans.
Dr. Sean Denney says one way around the provision is to have other investors own the land and building, leaving the doctors to make final management decisions.
