Pillar 05

Physician-Owned Hospital Ban

Section 6001 · Stark Law · Repeal bills

CriticalAll four repeal bills are stuck in committee with no hearing. FAH lobbied against one in writing, defended the ban to the FTC, and paid for a study attacking POHs.

Last verified November 6, 2026

FAH position

FAH urges Congress to maintain current law limiting physician self-referral and calls the ban essential to uphold. It cites conflicts of interest and harm to full-service community hospitals.

Where it stands

Status as of November 2026

November 6, 2026Section 6001 remains in force. No new physician-owned hospital may use the whole-hospital exception, and grandfathered hospitals are frozen at their 2010 bed, operating room and ownership levels. No 119th Congress bill to change it has had a hearing or markup. source
November 18, 2025FAH and AHA released a Dobson DaVanzo study on sole community hospitals. It claims a new orthopedic POH would cut such a hospital's margin from 2.5% to 1.2%. A cardiac POH would push it to negative 1.2%. source
August 1, 2025AMA policy and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons back S. 1390 and H.R. 2191. The AMA's August 2025 advocacy update supports lifting the ban. source

Legislation

Bills in the 119th Congress

Bill	Title	Sponsor	Cosponsors	Status
H.R. 2191	Physician Led and Rural Access to Quality Care Act (rural POHs more than 35 miles from a hospital; expansion of existing POHs)	Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA)	34 (27 R, 7 D)	Introduced March 18, 2025; no hearing or markup (2026-10-28)
S. 1390	Physician Led and Rural Access to Quality Care Act (Senate companion)	Sen. James Lankford (R-OK)	10 (all R)	Introduced April 9, 2025; referred to Finance; no action (2026-08-31)
H.R. 4002	Patient Access to Higher Quality Health Care Act of 2025 (full repeal of the Section 6001 restrictions)	Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-TX), with Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX)	12 (11 R, 1 D)	Introduced June 12, 2025; no hearing or markup (2026-03-06)
H.R. 3022	Restoring Rights of Physicians to Own Hospitals Act	Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN)	0	Introduced April 24, 2025; no action (2025-06-04)

FAH on the record

Letters, comments and statements

May 21, 2025FAH's letter to the FTC and DOJ carries a section demanding the POH ban be preserved. It calls the restrictions narrowly tailored and says they prevent cherry-picking. source
July 17, 2025FAH letter to Reps. Van Duyne and Cuellar opposing H.R. 4002: Congress must maintain current law limiting physician self-referral. source
November 18, 2025FAH and AHA press release on the sole community hospital study. FAH's policy chief: Congress cannot forget the dangers POHs pose to 24/7 patient care. source

The evidence

•Chip Kahn, June 1, 2021: the current ban on physician-owned hospitals would not be there without the Federation. source
•118th Congress: H.R. 977 drew 57 cosponsors, one of whom later withdrew, and S. 470 drew 14. Neither got a markup or a vote. source
•No FAH letter or statement on the POH bills has appeared since November 18, 2025. source

What it means for physicians

This is the pillar FAH exists for. A physician who wants to own the hospital where they operate is barred from Medicare by a 2010 law FAH takes credit for. Four bills would open the door; none has moved. The nine executives on FAH's board run more than 700 hospitals that would face new competition the day the ban falls.

Sources