DALTON, Ga. — Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle said he understands the disappointment that officials at Hamilton Health Care System and others in the community felt after the state Department of Community Health rejected Hamilton’s application for a certificate of need (CON) for open heart surgery service.

“I, too, am somewhat frustrated by the CON process,” Cagle said Monday at Hamilton Medical Center.

He said that’s why the state Senate, which he presides over, has created a committee to study possible reform of the certificate of need process.

Georgia is one of 35 states that require a certificate of need in order for health care providers to expand or add services. The process of granting certificates of need is supposed to reduce duplication of services.

But Cagle said there is some concern that the certificate of need process can be used to block competition.

“We want to make sure that this is not used in a way that will adversely impact the level of care in a community,” said Cagle.

Hamilton Health Care System President and CEO Jeff Myers said more than 200 patients each year travel from north Georgia to Chattanooga hospitals for open heart surgery. He said it can take 10 to 12 hours to get those patients on an operating table.

“If we could do it here, we could cut that time in half or less,” he said. “That equals lives.”

Cagle and Myers said open heart surgery is unique in that when considering whether to grant a certificate of need for it, the Department of Community Health must look at the needs of the state and not the region a hospital is located in.

“The DCH is somewhat hamstrung by the way the law is written,” said Cagle.

Myers said Hamilton has appealed the decision.

“We will make our counterarguments to the state,” Myers said. “The process usually takes six months.”

Cagle, who faces Secretary of State Brian Kemp in the July 24 runoff for the Republican nomination for governor, said he expects the Legislature will take up certificate of need reform when it meets again next year.

“I am confident that throughout this process through either the appeals process or legislative action that we can do the things that are fundamentally necessary for this hospital to continue to succeed and also to get a high level of care to every single patient and individual in the region as a whole,” Cagle said.

State Sen. Chuck Payne, R-Dalton, said certificate of need reform is “something that has to be looked at.”

State Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, said he thinks the certificate of need process does need to be reformed but he does not think it should be abolished.

“It needs to be adjusted and modernized,” he said. “But there needs to be checks and balances, and it does need to focus on the needs of regions.”

Cagle lauded the expansion that is currently underway at Hamilton, particularly the Peeples Cancer Institute and the Anna Shaw Children’s Institute that are both scheduled to open next year.

“I appreciate the great work they are doing in this community, but more importantly for the entire region. I’m excited to see the additional expansion that is going on at the hospital,” he said.

Cagle noted that autism, in particular, has been a priority of his. Autism spectrum disorders are one of the focuses of the Anna Shaw Children’s Institute.

Cagle said he was a supporter of a 2015 law that requires health insurance companies to cover the screening and therapy for autism for children up to age 6.

“Science has shown us that the early detection of autism can really affect the outcomes of individuals with autism,” he said.