New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 8 - HEALTH › Chapter 33 - CERTIFICATE OF NEED: APPLICATION AND REVIEW PROCESS › Subchapter 3 - TYPES OF CERTIFICATE OF NEED APPLICATIONS › Section 8:33-3.4 - Changes in licensed beds and/or services

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
(a) The following
				criteria apply to changes in licensed beds and/or services:
1. Any increase in the number of licensed beds by
				licensure and/or health planning category requires a certificate of need unless the
				bed type is specifically exempted from the certificate of need requirement pursuant
				to P.L. 1992, c.160, as amended by
				P.L.
				1998, c. 43,
				section
				19 (26:2H-7a ), or otherwise
				exempted pursuant to this chapter. The certificate of need application shall be
				subject to the full review process, except as provided for at N.J.A.C.
				8:33-5.1a.
2. Any decrease in the number
				of licensed beds by licensure and/or health planning category shall not require a
				certificate of need. Conversions of licensed beds to other uses shall be treated as
				increases in the number of beds by licensure or health planning category and the
				provisions of (a)1 above shall apply.
3.
				For services for which there is no specific licensed bed complement, relocation is
				not permitted, unless the service is otherwise exempt from the certificate of need
				requirement in accordance with those rules. For services for which there is a
				specific licensed bed complement, the relocation of a portion of a facility's
				licensed beds or the entire service from one licensed facility (sending facility) to
				another (receiving facility) located within the same planning region requires a
				certificate of need and shall follow the expedited review process, unless the beds
				or service at issue are otherwise exempt from the certificate of need requirement in
				accordance with these rules. The application shall be considered pursuant to the
				following criteria:
i. The relocation shall take
				place within the same planning region where the sending facility is
				located;
ii. The receiving facility
				shall already hold a license for the category of beds proposed for relocation. The
				Commissioner may, in the case of proposed bed relocations, waive this requirement
				when the receiving facility is the site of a general hospital proposed or approved
				for closure in the previous 12 months, if the Commissioner makes a finding that such
				approval will not reduce quality of care associated with the beds;
iii. The relocation shall not have an adverse
				impact on the ability of the population currently being served in the sending
				facility's service area to access the same types of service or bed complement as
				those proposed for relocation;
iv. The
				relocation shall not reduce access by the medically underserved and shall address
				the criteria set forth at
				8:33-4.10(a);
v. The relocation shall not have an adverse impact
				on quality of care at either the sending or receiving facility;
vi. All minimum and maximum bed/unit size
				requirements (for example, six bed pediatric units, 10 bed obstetrics units, 240 bed
				long-term care facilities) shall be maintained at both the sending and receiving
				facilities; and
vii. The relocation
				shall not violate a condition of a prior certificate of need approved for the
				establishment of the beds or services, unless the applicant presents evidence of
				substantial changes since imposition of the condition and the Commissioner makes a
				finding that the evidence warrants removal or modification of the
				condition.
4. The relocation
				of a portion of a health care facility's licensed beds or an entire service, whether
				it has a bed-related component or not, from one licensed facility to another outside
				the same planning region shall not be permitted.