This is good:
Dentists have complained for years that the 10-year rule that required a CON to purchase dental CTs only increased dental practice costs and made it more difficult to diagnose and treat patients. The cone-beam CT scanner is also fast becoming a standard tool for specialists, they said.
Source: CON Commission votes to deregulate dental CT scanners – Crain’s Detroit Business
A CON (Certificate of Need) is a perfect example of another failed government attempt to control healthcare by limiting expenditures. The idea being that hospitals and other medical facilities can not properly allocate expenses and will buy new technology they do not need thus raising the price of healthcare. The government comes to the rescue by requiring a hospital to demonstrate a need before being allowed to make a new purchase. Thus unneeded CAT scan machines are kept from the public and costs are reduced.
The actual result is cronyism where a board determines who gets a CAT scan and suddenly politics becomes the most significant factor in growing your hospital. And of course basic supply and demand dictates the opposite result than the one hoped for by the regulators. Fewer CAT scans (and other high tech systems) means higher prices.
Removing this requirement for dental CT machines is a good first step. Better yet would be the complete elimination of the whole misguided CON system.