Mississippi Administrative Code › Title 15 - Mississippi Department of Health › Part 9 - Office of Health Policy and Planning › Subpart 91 - Planning and Resource Development › Chapter 1 - POLICIES, PROCEDURES AND DEFINITIONS › Rule 15-9-91-1.1 - General Statement of Public Policy

Current through June 25, 2024
Section
					 41-7-171 et seq., Mississippi Code
					 of 1972 Annotated, as amended, established the Mississippi Department of Health
					 (Department) as the sole and official agency of the State of Mississippi to
					 administer and supervise all state health planning and development
					 responsibilities of the State of Mississippi.
The intention of health planning and health regulatory
					 activities is to prevent unnecessary duplication of health resources; provide
					 cost containment, improve the health of Mississippi residents; and increase the
					 accessibility, acceptability, continuity and quality of health services. The
					 regulatory mechanism to achieve these results is the Certificate of Need
					 (CON).
A CON must be obtained from the Department before
					 undertaking any of the activities described in Section
					 41-7-191(1)
					 without obtaining a Certificate of Need (CON) from the Department. No final
					 arrangement or commitment for financing such activity may be made by any person
					 unless a CON for such arrangement or commitment has been issued by the
					 Department. The Department will only issue a CON for new institutional health
					 services and other proposals which are determined to be needed pursuant to
					 statutory requirements. Only those proposals granted a CON may be developed or
					 offered within the State of Mississippi.
Only the Department, acting in response to an application
					 for a certificate of need, or in response to a decision of a court of competent
					 jurisdiction, may cause a CON to be issued, denied, or withdrawn or may
					 determine that CON review is not required. In carrying out these
					 responsibilities, the Department shall make decisions to issue or withdraw a
					 CON by conducting the review of each application in accordance with the adopted
					 procedures, standards, and criteria.
No CON shall be issued unless the action proposed in the
					 application for such Certificate has been reviewed for consistency with the
					 specifications and criteria established by the Department and substantially
					 complies with the projection of need as reported in the
State
					 Health Plan
which is in effect at the time the application is
					 received by the Department.
The Department will disapprove a CON application if the
					 applicant fails to provide or confirm that the applicant shall provide a
					 reasonable amount of indigent care or has admission policies which deny access
					 to care by indigent patients.
The Department will disapprove a CON application if
					 approval of the request would have significant adverse effect on the ability of
					 an existing facility or service to provide Medicaid/indigent care.
The State Health Officer shall determine whether the amount
					 of indigent care provided or to be offered is "reasonable." The Department has
					 determined that a reasonable amount of indigent care is an amount which is
					 comparable to the amount of such care offered by other providers of the
					 requested service within the same, or proximate, geographic area.
The Department shall adopt and revise as necessary criteria
					 and review procedures for CON applications. Before review of new institutional
					 health services or other proposals requiring a CON, the Department shall
					 disseminate to all health care facilities and health maintenance organizations
					 within the State and shall publish in The Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, Mississippi)
					 and other newspapers deemed appropriate a description of the scope of coverage
					 of the State Department of Health's Certificate of Need Program. Whenever the
					 scope of such coverage is revised, the State Department of Health shall
					 disseminate and publish a revised description in like manner.
Certificates of Need shall be issued by the State Health
					 Officer based upon those criteria and standards established and lawfully
					 adopted. Appropriate mechanisms for providing affected persons an opportunity
					 for a formal hearing on matters to be considered by the State Department of
					 Health have been developed. No CON shall be granted or denied until affected
					 parties have been accorded such right to a formal hearing.
A CON is not transferable from one person or entity to
					 another except with the approval of the Department. A CON shall be valid for a
					 designated period of not more than one year from the effective date. The
					 Department may extend the CON for a period not to exceed six months in those
					 cases where the applicant shows to the satisfaction of the State Department of
					 Health that a good faith effort has been made toward completion of the
					 project.
All approved projects will be monitored by Department staff
					 to assure compliance with stated policies, standards (including Life Safety,
					 Construction, and Licensure), and approved costs.
Recipients of Certificates of Need are required to make
					 written progress reports of their projects at least every six months and at
					 completion.
NOTE: If any section, chapter, articles, paragraph,
					 sentence, clause, phrase, rule or regulation, or any other part or portion of
					 this State Certificate of Need Review Manual is declared by proper authority to
					 be invalid or of no effect, the remainder hereof shall be in no manner affected
					 thereby but shall remain in full force and effect.
Whenever or wherever the occasion may arise to present
					 conflict between this State Certificate of Need Review Manual and legislative
					 statutes, the legislative statutes shall prevail.