Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 45, November 8, 2024
Section 65-11-5 - Shared Services5.1. 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.