2020 Georgia Code
Title 31 - Health
Chapter 6 - State Health Planning and Development
Article 3 - Certificate of Need Program
§ 31-6-41. Scope and Term of Validity of Certificate
- A certificate of need shall be valid only for the defined scope, location, cost, service area, and person named in an application, as it may be amended, and as such scope, location, service area, cost, and person are approved by the department, unless such certificate of need owned by an existing health care facility is transferred to a person who acquires such existing facility. In such case, the certificate of need shall be valid for the person who acquires such a facility and for the scope, location, cost, and service area approved by the department. However, in reviewing an application to relocate all or a portion of an existing skilled nursing facility, intermediate care facility, or intermingled nursing facility, the department may allow such facility to divide into two or more such facilities if the department determines that the proposed division is financially feasible and would be consistent with quality patient care.
- A certificate of need shall be valid and effective for a period of 12 months after it is issued, or such greater period of time as may be specified by the department at the time the certificate of need is issued. Within the effective period after the grant of a certificate of need, the applicant of a proposed project shall fulfill reasonable performance and scheduling requirements specified by the department, by rule, to assure reasonable progress toward timely completion of a project.
- By rule, the department may provide for extension of the effective period of a certificate of need when an applicant, by petition, makes a good faith showing that the conditions to be specified according to subsection (b) of this Code section will be performed within the extended period and that the reasons for the extension are beyond the control of the applicant.
(Code 1981, §31-6-41, enacted by Ga. L. 1983, p. 1566, § 1; Ga. L. 1999, p. 296, § 22; Ga. L. 2008, p. 12, § 1-1/SB 433; Ga. L. 2009, p. 8, § 31/SB 46.)
Editor's notes.- Ga. L. 2008, p. 12, § 3-1/SB 433, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that the amendment to this Code section shall only apply to applications submitted on or after July 1, 2008.
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Cancellation of certificate of need proper.
- Trial court properly affirmed an administrative decision cancelling a nursing home's certificate of need as the nursing home failed to comply with applicable statutory and regulatory requirements with regard to completing the project timely and providing documentation that ongoing construction was being undertaken. Further, several site inspections established that, in fact, no construction was being undertaken for the project. Southern Crescent Rehab. & Ret. Ctr., Inc. v. Ga. Dep't of Cmty. Health, 290 Ga. App. 863, 660 S.E.2d 792 (2008), cert. denied, 2008 Ga. LEXIS 679 (2008).
Addition of beds to adult psychiatric facility required certificate of need.
- Trial court erred in denying the challenger's petition for review because the agency's final decision holding that the hospital was not required to obtain a Certificate of Need (CON) before the hospital increased the hospital's available beds was inconsistent with the plain language of O.C.G.A. § 31-6-40(a) and Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 111-2-2-.26(a), which explicitly required CON prior to the expansion of an existing acute care adult psychiatric and/or substance abuse inpatient program. UHS of Anchor, L.P. v. Dep't of Cmty. Health, 351 Ga. App. 29, 830 S.E.2d 413 (2019).
