Senate Bill No. 30
(By Senator Caruth)
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[Introduced January 10, 2007; referred to the Committee on Health
and Human Resources; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §16-2D-3 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to providing for the elimination of
the restriction for charging or billing for ventilator beds in
health care facilities.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §16-2D-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2D. CERTIFICATE OF NEED.
§16-2D-3. Certificate of need; new institutional health services
defined.
(a) Except as provided in section four of this article, any
new institutional health service may not be acquired, offered or
developed within this state except upon application for and receipt
of a certificate of need as provided by this article. Whenever a
new institutional health service for which a certificate of need is required by this article is proposed for a health care facility for
which, pursuant to section four of this article, no certificate of
need is or was required, a certificate of need shall be issued
before the new institutional health service is offered or
developed. No person may knowingly charge or bill for any health
services associated with any new institutional health service that
is knowingly acquired, offered or developed in violation of this
article, and any bill made in violation of this section is legally
unenforceable.
(b) For purposes of this article, a proposed "new
institutional health service" includes:
(1) The construction, development, acquisition or other
establishment of a new health care facility or health maintenance
organization;
(2) The partial or total closure of a health care facility or
health maintenance organization with which a capital expenditure is
associated;
(3) Any obligation for a capital expenditure incurred by or on
behalf of a health care facility, except as exempted in section
four of this article, or health maintenance organization in excess
of the expenditure minimum or any obligation for a capital
expenditure incurred by any person to acquire a health care
facility. An obligation for a capital expenditure is considered to
be incurred by or on behalf of a health care facility:
(A) When a contract, enforceable under state law, is entered
into by or on behalf of the health care facility for the
construction, acquisition, lease or financing of a capital asset;
(B) When the governing board of the health care facility takes
formal action to commit its own funds for a construction project
undertaken by the health care facility as its own contractor; or
(C) In the case of donated property, on the date on which the
gift is completed under state law;
(4) A substantial change to the bed capacity of a health care
facility with which a capital expenditure is associated;
(5) The addition of health services as specified by the state
agency which are offered by or on behalf of a health care facility
or health maintenance organization and which were not offered on a
regular basis by or on behalf of the health care facility or health
maintenance organization within the twelve-month period prior to
the time the services would be offered. The state agency shall
promulgate emergency rules pursuant to the provisions of section
fifteen, article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code by the
first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine, to
specify the health services which are subject to certificate of
need review. The state agency shall specify by rule those health
services subject to certificate of need as recommended by the
certificate of need study conducted pursuant to section
nineteen-a, article twenty-nine-b of this chapter;
(6) The addition of ventilator services for any nursing
facility bed by any health care facility or health maintenance
organization;
(7) (6) The deletion of one or more health services,
previously offered on a regular basis by or on behalf of a health
care facility or health maintenance organization which is
associated with a capital expenditure;
(8) (7) A substantial change to the bed capacity or health
services offered by or on behalf of a health care facility, whether
or not the change is associated with a proposed capital
expenditure, if the change is associated with a previous capital
expenditure for which a certificate of need was issued and if the
change will occur within two years after the date the activity
which was associated with the previously approved capital
expenditure was undertaken;
(9) (8) The acquisition of major medical equipment;
(10) (9) A substantial change in an approved new institutional
health service for which a certificate of need is in effect. For
purposes of this subsection, "substantial change" shall be defined
by the state agency in rules adopted pursuant to section eight of
this article; or
(11) (10) An expansion of the service area for hospice or home
health service, regardless of the time period in which the
expansion is contemplated or made.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to eliminate the prohibition
against any health services organization from charging or billing
for ventilator beds in health care facilities without first
obtaining a certificate of need.
Strike-throughs indicate language that is to be stricken from
present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be
added.