A new Pennsylvania law gives health care businesses the right to refuse certain services based on conscience policies—but with strict compliance requirements.
Most salon and personal care business owners in Pennsylvania don't realize that a major health care law passed this year may affect them—especially if they operate as a licensed health care institution, such as a small clinic, nursing facility, home health agency, or similar operation.
Pennsylvania's HB2701, a sweeping overhaul of the state's advance health care directives law, contains a provision that directly impacts how small health care businesses can operate. Buried in the bill is a new right—and a new obligation—that every affected owner should understand.
Under Section 5424 of HB2701 (pages 12–13), health care institutions now have a codified right to refuse to provide care that conflicts with their conscience-based policies. This is not new in principle, but the law makes it explicit and creates specific requirements for how refusals must be handled.
The catch: refusing care is not optional or informal. The law requires that when a health care institution refuses service on conscience grounds, it must immediately attempt to transfer the patient to another willing provider. Until that transfer happens, the institution must continue to provide life-sustaining care.
If your business qualifies as a health care institution under Pennsylvania law, HB2701 gives you explicit protection to decline services that conflict with your stated conscience policies. However, this protection comes with mandatory compliance obligations:
In plain terms: you gain the right to say no, but you cannot simply turn someone away. You must have your policies documented, communicate them clearly, and ensure continuity of care during any transition.
HB2701 becomes effective 180 days after enactment (Section 12). This means small health care businesses have a limited window to review whether this provision applies to them, draft or update conscience-based policies, and establish procedures for patient communication and transfer protocols.
The specific language governing this right appears in Section 5424, pages 12–13 of the bill.
If you operate a licensed health care facility—whether a small clinic, home health agency, nursing facility, or similar business—you should consult with legal counsel to determine whether your operation qualifies as a "health care institution" under the law and whether this provision applies to your services.
For a plain-English, business-specific summary of how HB2701 may affect your operation, resources are available through Pennsylvania's health care licensing boards and industry associations.
Source: Pennsylvania HB2701, Section 5424, pages 12–13; Section 12 (effective date).