West Virginia Code of State Rules › Agency 65 - Health Care Authority › Title 65 - LEGISLATIVE RULE HEALTH CARE AUTHORITY › Series 65-11 - Exemptions From Certificate Of Need Review › Section 65-11-5 - Shared Services

Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 28, July 12, 2024
5.1. Any
				acute care facility otherwise subject to the certificate of need review program
				may obtain an exemption from certificate of need review for shared services
				between two or more acute care facilities. The shared services must be those
				provided by major medical equipment and which through new or existing
				technology can reasonably be made mobile. Examples of such "shared services"
				are mobile computerized tomography (CT) scanners, magnetic resonance imaging
				(MRI) devices, and extra-corporeal lithotripters. Other technologies which are
				similar in mobility may be included in this exemption. In order to qualify as a
				"shared service," the equipment must be on site at each acute care facility at
				least four (4) days out of each month unless good cause is established by the
				acute care facilities for waiving or modifying this requirement.
5.2. In order to obtain the exemption, the
				acute care facilities must file a verified notice with the state agency. The
				verified notice shall identify the hospitals and all other entities involved in
				the proposal, identify the equipment to be acquired and the services to be
				provided, the fair market value of the equipment to be provided, the capital
				expenditures to be made by each hospital, each hospital's annual operating
				expenses for the each of the first three (3) years of operation of the shared
				services, and the proposed schedule for the equipment's use at each
				hospital.
5.3. This exemption is
				not available if any non-acute care facility or entity will utilize the major
				medical equipment for the provision of health services to that facility's or
				entity's patients. However, the equipment may be owned by a non-acute care
				facility or entity which in turn contracts, leases, or rents it exclusively for
				use by acute care facilities.
5.4.
				Upon receipt of the verified notice, the state agency shall within fifteen (15)
				days determine whether the proposal is eligible for the exemption. In the event
				the state agency needs more information to make its determination, it shall
				request that information in writing. Such request shall terminate the
				applicable fifteen (15) day review period and a new fifteen (15) day review
				period shall begin upon receipt by the state agency of the requested
				information. Submission of incomplete or inadequate additional information
				shall not cause the new fifteen (15) day review period to begin.
5.5. Upon determining that the equipment to
				be acquired to provide the shared services meets the conditions stated above in
				subsection 5.1. and in 5.3., the state agency shall grant the entities involved
				an exemption from certificate of need review.
5.6. The state agency's ruling upon the
				applicability of the exemption shall be in writing and shall be a final
				decision for purposes of West Virginia Code, § 16-2D-7(r) and §
				16-2D-10. The major medical equipment affected by this exemption shall not be
				acquired or contracted for until after the entry of a final decision.
5.7. Notwithstanding the
				provisions contained either in those portions of the state health plan which
				identify specialized acute care services or in section 6 of this rule, this
				section, "Shared Services," shall govern any action for the sharing of services
				between two or more acute care facilities.