2015 Connecticut General Statutes
Title 19a - Public Health and Well-Being
Chapter 368z - Office of Health Care Access
Section 19a-653 - (Formerly Sec. 19a-167j). Failure to file data or information. Civil penalty. Notice. Extension. Hearing. Appeal. Deduction from Medicaid payments.

(a) Any person or health care facility or institution that is required to file a certificate of need for any of the activities described in section 19a-638, and any person or health care facility or institution that is required to file data or information under any public or special act or under this chapter or sections 19a-486 to 19a-486h, inclusive, or any regulation adopted or order issued under this chapter or said sections, which wilfully fails to seek certificate of need approval for any of the activities described in section 19a-638 or to so file within prescribed time periods, shall be subject to a civil penalty of up to one thousand dollars a day for each day such person or health care facility or institution conducts any of the described activities without certificate of need approval as required by section 19a-638 or for each day such information is missing, incomplete or inaccurate. Any civil penalty authorized by this section shall be imposed by the Department of Public Health in accordance with subsections (b) to (e), inclusive, of this section.

(b) If the Department of Public Health has reason to believe that a violation has occurred for which a civil penalty is authorized by subsection (a) of this section or subsection (e) of section 19a-632, it shall notify the person or health care facility or institution by first-class mail or personal service. The notice shall include: (1) A reference to the sections of the statute or regulation involved; (2) a short and plain statement of the matters asserted or charged; (3) a statement of the amount of the civil penalty or penalties to be imposed; (4) the initial date of the imposition of the penalty; and (5) a statement of the party’s right to a hearing.

(c) The person or health care facility or institution to whom the notice is addressed shall have fifteen business days from the date of mailing of the notice to make written application to the office to request (1) a hearing to contest the imposition of the penalty, or (2) an extension of time to file the required data. A failure to make a timely request for a hearing or an extension of time to file the required data or a denial of a request for an extension of time shall result in a final order for the imposition of the penalty. All hearings under this section shall be conducted pursuant to sections 4-176e to 4-184, inclusive. The Department of Public Health may grant an extension of time for filing the required data or mitigate or waive the penalty upon such terms and conditions as, in its discretion, it deems proper or necessary upon consideration of any extenuating factors or circumstances.

(d) A final order of the Department of Public Health assessing a civil penalty shall be subject to appeal as set forth in section 4-183 after a hearing before the office pursuant to subsection (c) of this section, except that any such appeal shall be taken to the superior court for the judicial district of New Britain. Such final order shall not be subject to appeal under any other provision of the general statutes. No challenge to any such final order shall be allowed as to any issue which could have been raised by an appeal of an earlier order, denial or other final decision by the Department of Public Health.

(e) If any person or health care facility or institution fails to pay any civil penalty under this section, after the assessment of such penalty has become final the amount of such penalty may be deducted from payments to such person or health care facility or institution from the Medicaid account.

(P.A. 88-230, S. 1, 12; P.A. 89-371, S. 28, 31; P.A. 90-98, S. 1, 2; P.A. 93-142, S. 4, 7, 8; May 25 Sp. Sess. P.A. 94-1, S. 120, 130; P.A. 95-160, S. 55, 69; 95-220, S. 4–6; 95-257, S. 39, 58; P.A. 96-139, S. 12, 13; P.A. 98-150, S. 8, 17; P.A. 99-172, S. 5, 7; 99-215, S. 24, 29; P.A. 05-151, S. 10; P.A. 06-28, S. 6; P.A. 09-232, S. 97; Sept. Sp. Sess. P.A. 09-3, S. 16; P.A. 10-179, S. 93; P.A. 11-242, S. 87; P.A. 13-234, S. 148.)

History: May 25 Sp. Sess. P.A. 94-1 removed obsolete language and added reference to Secs. 19a-170 to 19a-170g, inclusive, in Subsec. (a), effective July 1, 1994 (Revisor’s note: The last sentence of Subsec. (a) which reads “Any civil penalty authorized by this section shall be imposed by the Commission on Hospitals and Health Care in accordance with subsection (b) of this section.” was omitted from the amendment to Subsec. (a) but in the absence of any indication that the General Assembly intended to delete this sentence it has been treated as a clerical error and reinstated by the Revisors); P.A. 95-160 amended Subsec. (a) to add health care providers who own, operate, or seek to acquire CAT scan or medical imaging equipment, increase the penalty from $250 to $1,000, made technical changes, broadened application of section to all of chapter 368c and 368z, deleted Subsecs. (b) to (d) and replaced them with new (b) to (e) re procedure for application of penalty, effective June 1, 1995 (Revisor’s note: P.A. 88-230, 90-98, 93-142 and 95-220 authorized substitution of “judicial district of Hartford” for “judicial district of Hartford-New Britain” in 1995 public and special acts, effective September 1, 1998); P.A. 95-257 replaced Commission on Hospitals and Health Care with Office of Health Care Access, effective July 1, 1995; P.A. 96-139 changed effective date of P.A. 95-160 but without affecting this section; Sec. 19a-167j transferred to Sec. 19a-653 in 1997; P.A. 98-150 amended Subsec. (a) by deleting “health care facility or institution” concerning owning, operating or seeking to acquire equipment and adding it concerning filing data, added “or information under any public or special act”, adding linear accelerators and adding Subdiv. (2) re request as to whether certificate of need is required and made technical changes, effective June 5, 1998; P.A. 99-172 added reference to “person” in Subsecs. (a), (c) and (e) and made technical changes in Subsecs. (b), (c) and (e), effective June 23, 1999; P.A. 99-215 replaced “judicial district of Hartford” with “judicial district of New Britain” in Subsec. (d), effective June 29, 1999; P.A. 05-151 amended Subsec. (a) by extending the civil penalty for failure to file certificate of need data or information with office to non-profit hospitals seeking to become for-profit hospitals and to “any person or health care facility or institution”, rather than “any health care provider”, and by broadening the type of major medical and scanning equipment that triggers the filing requirement, amended Subsec. (c) by extending the deadline for requesting a public hearing to contest the penalty from 10 calendar days to 15 business days after office mails the notice of violation and penalty to be imposed, and made conforming changes in Subsecs. (b), (c) and (e); P.A. 06-28 amended Subsec. (a)(1) by increasing the major medical equipment acquisition threshold from $400,000 to $3,000,000, effective July 1, 2006; P.A. 09-232 amended Subsec. (a)(1) by eliminating “cineangiography equipment”, effective July 1, 2009; Sept. Sp. Sess. P.A. 09-3 amended Subsec. (a)(1) by substituting “Department of Public Health” for “Office of Health Care Access” and amended Subsecs. (b), (c) and (d) by substituting “Department of Public Health” for “office”, effective October 6, 2009; P.A. 10-179 amended Subsec. (a) by deleting portion of former Subdiv. (1) re filing requirements for medical equipment costing over $3,000,000 and certain equipment developed or introduced on or after October 1, 2005, by adding provisions re civil penalties for wilful failure to seek certificate of need approval under Sec. 19a-638 and re exception to civil penalties for failure to complete inventory questionnaire required by Sec. 19a-634, and by deleting former Subdiv. (2) re request for office determination; P.A. 11-242 amended Subsec. (b) by adding reference to civil penalty authorized by Sec. 19a-632(e), effective July 1, 2011; P.A. 13-234 amended Subsec. (a) by deleting provision re exemption from civil penalties for failure to complete inventory questionnaire.

Annotations to former section 19a-167j:

Cited. 223 C. 450; 238 C. 216.