Code of Maryland Regulations › Title 10 - MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH › Part 5 › Subtitle 37 - HEALTH SERVICES COST REVIEW COMMISSION › Chapter 10.37.10 - Rate Application and Approval Procedures › Section 10.37.10.25 - Evidence, Testimony, and Official Notice

Current through Register Vol. 51, No. 14, July 12, 2024
A. The presiding officer at a public hearing
				  or general hearing shall make all rulings as to evidence, testimony, and
				  official notice and he may call on the legal counsel of the Commission for
				  guidance in his rulings.
B. All
				  evidence and testimony shall be relevant and pertain solely to the issues being
				  considered in a particular proceeding.
C. Redundant evidence or testimony may not be
				  permitted at public or general hearings or in the records of
				  proceedings.
D. Non-expert opinion
				  testimony may be considered at a hearing and documentary opinion evidence may
				  be entered in the record of a proceeding if the testimony or evidence is based
				  on facts and matters admissible into evidence and the facts and matters are
				  within the personal knowledge of the submitter of the document.
E. Qualification as an expert shall be within
				  the discretion of the presiding officer of the public or general hearing at
				  which the proposed expert may proffer testimony or evidence or, if evidence is
				  proffered at a time other than at a public hearing, within the discretion of
				  the chairman of the Commission considering the proceeding. The expert
				  qualification need not be based upon academic degrees or learning; reasonably
				  extensive practical experience with the subject may be sufficient for an expert
				  qualification.
F. Subject to the
				  provisions of these regulations, legal rules of evidence shall be followed as
				  far as practicable at public and general hearings.
G. Reliable and probative documents
				  previously filed with or compiled by the Commission or its staff or consultants
				  that are relevant to issues being considered by the Commission may be
				  incorporated by reference into the record of a proceeding by the Commission or,
				  by leave of the presiding officer, by a party to the proceeding.
H. In the course of a proceeding, the
				  Commission may take official notice of facts and matters in the same manner as
				  the courts of the State take judicial notice of facts and matters and,
				  additionally, may take notice, without meeting formal evidentiary rules, of
				  general, technical, or scientific facts within the specialized knowledge of a
				  member of the Commission. However, any party to the proceeding is entitled, on
				  timely request, to an opportunity to show that the Commission should not take
				  official notice of specific facts and matters or that the fact or matter to be
				  officially noticed is inapplicable to the proceeding or is incorrect or
				  misunderstood by the Commission.
I.
				  In reviewing a hospital's rate structure, the Commission may consider or take
				  official notice of any public document, including, but not limited to, any
				  filing made with the Maryland Health Resources Planning Commission relative to
				  a Certificate of Need application including all projections of volumes,
				  revenues, rates, and feasibility studies, as well as any public document
				  concerning the financing of a project approved pursuant to a Certificate of
				  Need.