SEARCH SITE

VIRGINIA LAW PORTAL

SEARCHABLE DATABASES

ACROSS SESSIONS

Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.

1999 SESSION

  • | print version

HB 2369 Medical care facilities certificate of public need.

Introduced by: John H. Rust, Jr. | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles

SUMMARY AS PASSED: (all summaries)

Medical care facilities certificate of public need. Eliminates the requirement for a certificate of public need for the replacement of any equipment; requires registration with the Commissioner of Health and the appropriate health systems agency, within 30 days of becoming contractually obligated, of purchases of any medical equipment for the provision of cardiac catheterization, computed tomographic scanning, gamma knife surgery, lithotripsy, magnetic resonance imaging, magnetic source imaging, open heart surgery, positron emission tomographic scanning, radiation therapy, or other specialized service designated by the Board regulation; and revises the administrative process for obtaining a certificate.

The administrative procedures for review of applications for certificate of public need are revised to require (i) concise procedures for prompt review of applications; (ii) fees of one percent of the proposed expenditure for the project, with a minimum of $1,000 and a maximum of $20,000; (iii) transmission of the application by certified mail or a delivery service, return receipt requested, or delivery of the document by hand, with signed receipt to be provided; (iv) the 120-calendar-day review period must begin on the date upon which the application is determined to be complete within the batching process or, if the application is not determined to be complete within 40 calendar days from submission, the application must be refiled in the next batch for like projects; (v) the application review by the health systems agencies will be limited to 60 calendar days; (vi) the health systems agency must submit its recommendations on each application and its reasons within 10 calendar days after the completion of its 60-calendar-day review or such other period the applicant has requested; (vii) if the health systems agency does not complete its review within the 60-calendar-day period or the period requested by the applicant and submit its recommendations within the 10 calendar days after the completion of its review, the Department of Health must, on the 11th calendar day after the expiration of the health systems agency’s review period, proceed as though the health systems agency has recommended project approval without conditions or revision; (viii) the Department and the Commissioner must begin the review of the application upon receipt of the completed application and simultaneously with the review conducted by the health systems agency. The Administrative Process Act will only apply to the COPN process in those instances for which timelines and specifications are not delineated in the COPN law, e.g., a formal hearing procedure. Upon accepting an application as complete, (i) the Department must establish a date for every application between 80 and 90 days within the 120-calendar-day review period for holding an informal fact-finding conference, if necessary; (ii) the Department must review every application at or before the 75th day within the 120-calendar-day period to determine whether an informal fact-finding conference is necessary; (iii) any informal fact-finding conference will be to consider the record and not a de novo review; (iv) in any case in which an informal fact-finding conference is held, a date must be established for the closing of the record in not more than 45 calendar days after the date of the conference; (v) in any case in which an informal fact-finding conference is not held, the record will be closed on the earlier of the date established for holding the conference or the date that the Department determines no conference is necessary; (vi) if the Commissioner’s determination is not made within 15 calendar days of the closing of the record, he must notify the Attorney General and copy the parties and persons petitioning for good cause standing, in writing, that the application must be deemed approved unless the determination is made within 40 calendar days of the closing of the record; (vii) in any case in which the determination is not made within 40 calendar days after the closing of the record, the Department must refund 50 percent of the fee, the application will be deemed approved, and the certificate must be granted; (viii) if a determination is not made within 15 calendar days of the closing of the record, any applicant who is competing in the relevant batch or who has filed an application in response to the relevant Request For Applications may, prior to the application being deemed approved, institute a proceeding for mandamus against the Commissioner; (ix) if the writ of mandamus is granted, the Department will be liable for the costs and reasonable attorney’s fees; and (x) upon the filing of a petition for mandamus, the relevant application will not be deemed approved, regardless of the time between the closing of the record and the final decision. Deemed approvals will be construed as the Commissioner’s case decision on the application pursuant to the Administrative Process Act and will be subject to judicial review on appeal as provided in the APA.

The Commissioner’s annual report on COPN must include an analysis of the effectiveness of the application review procedures used by the health systems agencies and the Department which details the review time required during the past year for various project categories, the number of contested or opposed applications and the project categories of these contested or opposed projects, the number of applications upon which the health systems agencies have failed to act within the timelines, the number of deemed approvals from the Department because of their failure to comply with the timelines, any other data determined by the Commissioner to be relevant to the efficient operation of the program, and an analysis of the equipment registrations, including the type of equipment replaced and purchased and the equipment costs. This bill is identical to SB 1282.


FULL TEXT

AMENDMENTS

HISTORY