SECOND REGULAR SESSION

SENATE BILL NO. 1047

91ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY


INTRODUCED BY SENATOR KENNEY.

Read 1st time January 28, 2002, and 1,000 copies ordered printed.



TERRY L. SPIELER, Secretary.

4307S.01I


AN ACT

To repeal sections 197.305, 197.317 and 197.318, RSMo, relating to certificate of need, and to enact in lieu thereof three new sections relating to the same subject, with an expiration date for certain sections.


Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:

Section A. Sections 197.305, 197.317 and 197.318, RSMo, are repealed and three new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 197.305, 197.317 and 197.318, to read as follows:

197.305. As used in sections 197.300 to 197.366, the following terms mean:

(1) "Affected persons", the person proposing the development of a new institutional health service, the public to be served, and health care facilities within the service area in which the proposed new health care service is to be developed;

(2) "Agency", the certificate of need program of the Missouri department of health and senior services;

(3) "Capital expenditure", an expenditure by or on behalf of a health care facility which, under generally accepted accounting principles, is not properly chargeable as an expense of operation and maintenance;

(4) "Certificate of need", a written certificate issued by the committee setting forth the committee's affirmative finding that a proposed project sufficiently satisfies the criteria prescribed for such projects by sections 197.300 to 197.366;

(5) "Develop", to undertake those activities which on their completion will result in the offering of a new institutional health service or the incurring of a financial obligation in relation to the offering of such a service;

(6) "Expenditure minimum" shall mean:

(a) For beds in existing or proposed health care facilities licensed pursuant to chapter 198, RSMo, and long-term care beds in a hospital as described in subdivision (3) of subsection 1 of section 198.012, RSMo, six hundred thousand dollars in the case of capital expenditures, or four hundred thousand dollars in the case of major medical equipment, provided, however, that [prior to January 1, 2003,] until December 31 of the year following the calendar year in which the division of health standards and licensure certifies to the general assembly that all health care facilities licensed pursuant to chapter 198, RSMo, and long term care beds in a hospital as described in subdivision (3) of subsection 1 of section 198.012, RSMo, have maintained an average statewide occupancy rate of ninety percent or higher of all licensed beds for the four quarters immediately preceding said certification and the general assembly shall have amended this section, the expenditure minimum for beds in such a facility and long-term care beds in a hospital described in section 198.012, RSMo, shall be zero, subject to the provisions of subsection 7 of section 197.318;

(b) For beds or equipment in a long-term care hospital meeting the requirements described in 42 CFR, Section 412.23(e), the expenditure minimum shall be zero; and

(c) For health care facilities, new institutional health services or beds not described in paragraph (a) or (b) of this subdivision one million dollars in the case of capital expenditures, excluding major medical equipment, and one million dollars in the case of medical equipment;

(7) "Health care facilities", hospitals, health maintenance organizations, tuberculosis hospitals, psychiatric hospitals, intermediate care facilities, skilled nursing facilities, residential care facilities I and II, kidney disease treatment centers, including freestanding hemodialysis units, diagnostic imaging centers, radiation therapy centers and ambulatory surgical facilities, but excluding the private offices of physicians, dentists and other practitioners of the healing arts, and Christian Science sanatoriums, also known as Christian Science Nursing facilities listed and certified by the Commission for Accreditation of Christian Science Nursing Organization/Facilities, Inc., and facilities of not-for-profit corporations in existence on October 1, 1980, subject either to the provisions and regulations of Section 302 of the Labor-Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. 186 or the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, 29 U.S.C. 401-538, and any residential care facility I or residential care facility II operated by a religious organization qualified pursuant to Section 501(c)(3) of the federal Internal Revenue Code, as amended, which does not require the expenditure of public funds for purchase or operation, with a total licensed bed capacity of one hundred beds or fewer;

(8) "Health service area", a geographic region appropriate for the effective planning and development of health services, determined on the basis of factors including population and the availability of resources, consisting of a population of not less than five hundred thousand or more than three million;

(9) "Major medical equipment", medical equipment used for the provision of medical and other health services;

(10) "New institutional health service":

(a) The development of a new health care facility costing in excess of the applicable expenditure minimum;

(b) The acquisition, including acquisition by lease, of any health care facility, or major medical equipment costing in excess of the expenditure minimum;

(c) Any capital expenditure by or on behalf of a health care facility in excess of the expenditure minimum;

(d) Predevelopment activities as defined in subdivision (13) hereof costing in excess of one hundred fifty thousand dollars;

(e) Any change in licensed bed capacity of a health care facility which increases the total number of beds by more than ten or more than ten percent of total bed capacity, whichever is less, over a two-year period;

(f) Health services, excluding home health services, which are offered in a health care facility and which were not offered on a regular basis in such health care facility within the twelve-month period prior to the time such services would be offered;

(g) A reallocation by an existing health care facility of licensed beds among major types of service or reallocation of licensed beds from one physical facility or site to another by more than ten beds or more than ten percent of total licensed bed capacity, whichever is less, over a two-year period;

(11) "Nonsubstantive projects", projects which do not involve the addition, replacement, modernization or conversion of beds or the provision of a new health service but which include a capital expenditure which exceeds the expenditure minimum and are due to an act of God or a normal consequence of maintaining health care services, facility or equipment;

(12) "Person", any individual, trust, estate, partnership, corporation, including associations and joint stock companies, state or political subdivision or instrumentality thereof, including a municipal corporation;

(13) "Predevelopment activities", expenditures for architectural designs, plans, working drawings and specifications, and any arrangement or commitment made for financing; but excluding submission of an application for a certificate of need.

197.317. 1. After July 1, 1983, no certificate of need shall be issued for the following:

(1) Additional residential care facility I, residential care facility II, intermediate care facility or skilled nursing facility beds above the number then licensed by this state;

(2) Beds in a licensed hospital to be reallocated on a temporary or permanent basis to nursing care or beds in a long-term care hospital meeting the requirements described in 42 CFR, Section 412.23(e), excepting those which are not subject to a certificate of need pursuant to paragraphs (e) and (g) of subdivision (10) of section 197.305; nor

(3) The reallocation of intermediate care facility or skilled nursing facility beds of existing licensed beds by transfer or sale of licensed beds between a hospital licensed pursuant to this chapter or a nursing care facility licensed pursuant to chapter 198, RSMo; except for beds in counties in which there is no existing nursing care facility. No certificate of need shall be issued for the reallocation of existing residential care facility I or II, or intermediate care facilities operated exclusively for the mentally retarded to intermediate care or skilled nursing facilities or beds. [However, after January 1, 2003, nothing in this section shall prohibit the Missouri health facilities review committee from issuing a certificate of need for additional beds in existing health care facilities or for new beds in new health care facilities or for the reallocation of licensed beds, provided that no construction shall begin prior to January 1, 2004.] The provisions of subsections 16 and 17 of section 197.315 shall apply to the provisions of this section.

2. The health facilities review committee shall utilize demographic data from the office of social and economic data analysis, or its successor organization, at the University of Missouri as their source of information in considering applications for new institutional long-term care facilities.

3. The provisions of this section shall expire on December 31 of the year following the calendar year in which the division of health standards and licensure certifies to the general assembly that all health care facilities licensed pursuant to chapter 198, RSMo, and long term care beds in a hospital as described in subdivision (3) of subsection 1 of section 198.012, RSMo, have maintained an average statewide occupancy rate of ninety percent or higher of all licensed beds for the four quarters immediately preceding said certification and the general assembly shall have amended this section.

197.318. 1. The provisions of section 197.317 shall not apply to a residential care facility I, residential care facility II, intermediate care facility or skilled nursing facility only where the department of social services has first determined that there presently exists a need for additional beds of that classification because the average occupancy of all licensed and available residential care facility I, residential care facility II, intermediate care facility and skilled nursing facility beds exceeds ninety percent for at least four consecutive calendar quarters, in a particular county, and within a fifteen-mile radius of the proposed facility, and the facility otherwise appears to qualify for a certificate of need. The department's certification that there is no need for additional beds shall serve as the final determination and decision of the committee. In determining ninety percent occupancy, residential care facility I and II shall be one separate classification and intermediate care and skilled nursing facilities are another separate classification.

2. The Missouri health facilities review committee may, for any facility certified to it by the department, consider the predominant ethnic or religious composition of the residents to be served by that facility in considering whether to grant a certificate of need.

3. There shall be no expenditure minimum for facilities, beds, or services referred to in subdivisions (1), (2) and (3) of section 197.317. The provisions of this subsection shall expire [January 1, 2003] on December 31 of the year following the calendar year in which the division of health standards and licensure certifies to the general assembly that all health care facilities licensed pursuant to chapter 198, RSMo, and long term care beds in a hospital as described in subdivision (3) of subsection 1 of section 198.012, RSMo, have maintained an average statewide occupancy rate of ninety percent or higher of all licensed beds for the four quarters immediately preceding said certification and the general assembly shall have amended this subsection.

4. As used in this section, the term "licensed and available" means beds which are actually in place and for which a license has been issued.

5. The provisions of section 197.317 shall not apply to any facility where at least ninety-five percent of the patients require diets meeting the dietary standards defined by section 196.165, RSMo.

6. The committee shall review all letters of intent and applications for long-term care hospital beds meeting the requirements described in 42 CFR, Section 412.23(e) under its criteria and standards for long-term care beds.

7. Sections 197.300 to 197.366 shall not be construed to apply to litigation pending in state court on or before April 1, 1996, in which the Missouri health facilities review committee is a defendant in an action concerning the application of sections 197.300 to 197.366 to long-term care hospital beds meeting the requirements described in 42 CFR, Section 412.23(e).

8. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter to the contrary:

(1) A facility licensed pursuant to chapter 198, RSMo, may increase its licensed bed capacity by:

(a) Submitting a letter of intent to expand to the division of aging and the health facilities review committee;

(b) Certification from the division of aging that the facility:

a. Has no patient care class I deficiencies within the last eighteen months; and

b. Has maintained a ninety-percent average occupancy rate for the previous six quarters;

(c) Has made an effort to purchase beds for eighteen months following the date the letter of intent to expand is submitted pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subdivision. For purposes of this paragraph, an "effort to purchase" means a copy certified by the offeror as an offer to purchase beds from another licensed facility in the same licensure category; and

(d) If an agreement is reached by the selling and purchasing entities, the health facilities review committee shall issue a certificate of need for the expansion of the purchaser facility upon surrender of the seller's license; or

(e) If no agreement is reached by the selling and purchasing entities, the health facilities review committee shall permit an expansion for:

a. A facility with more than forty beds may expand its licensed bed capacity within the same licensure category by twenty-five percent or thirty beds, whichever is greater, if that same licensure category in such facility has experienced an average occupancy of ninety-three percent or greater over the previous six quarters;

b. A facility with fewer than forty beds may expand its licensed bed capacity within the same licensure category by twenty-five percent or ten beds, whichever is greater, if that same licensure category in such facility has experienced an average occupancy of ninety-two percent or greater over the previous six quarters;

c. A facility adding beds pursuant to subparagraphs a. or b. of this paragraph shall not expand by more than fifty percent of its then licensed bed capacity in the qualifying licensure category;

(2) Any beds sold shall, for five years from the date of relicensure by the purchaser, remain unlicensed and unused for any long-term care service in the selling facility, whether they do or do not require a license;

(3) The beds purchased shall, for two years from the date of purchase, remain in the bed inventory attributed to the selling facility and be considered by the department of social services as licensed and available for purposes of this section;

(4) Any residential care facility licensed pursuant to chapter 198, RSMo, may relocate any portion of such facility's current licensed beds to any other facility to be licensed within the same licensure category if both facilities are under the same licensure ownership or control, and are located within six miles of each other;

(5) A facility licensed pursuant to chapter 198, RSMo, may transfer or sell individual long-term care licensed beds to facilities qualifying pursuant to paragraphs (a) and (b) of subdivision (1) of this subsection. Any facility which transfers or sells licensed beds shall not expand its licensed bed capacity in that licensure category for a period of five years from the date the licensure is relinquished.

9. Any existing licensed and operating health care facility offering long-term care services may replace one-half of its licensed beds at the same site or a site not more than thirty miles from its current location if, for at least the most recent four consecutive calendar quarters, the facility operates only fifty percent of its then licensed capacity with every resident residing in a private room. In such case:

(1) The facility shall report to the division of aging vacant beds as unavailable for occupancy for at least the most recent four consecutive calendar quarters;

(2) The replacement beds shall be built to private room specifications and only used for single occupancy; and

(3) The existing facility and proposed facility shall have the same owner or owners, regardless of corporate or business structure, and such owner or owners shall stipulate in writing that the existing facility beds to be replaced will not later be used to provide long-term care services. If the facility is being operated under a lease, both the lessee and the owner of the existing facility shall stipulate the same in writing.

10. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a health care facility licensed pursuant to chapter 198, RSMo, from being replaced in its entirety within fifteen miles of its existing site so long as the existing facility and proposed or replacement facility have the same owner or owners regardless of corporate or business structure and the health care facility being replaced remains unlicensed and unused for any long-term care services whether they do or do not require a license from the date of licensure of the replacement facility.






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