08 LC 33
2256
House
Bill 967
By:
Representatives Martin of the
47th
and Barnard of the
166th
A
BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
AN ACT
To
amend Code Section 31-6-47 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating
to exemptions from the certificate of need program, so as to exempt prisons and
other secure correctional institutions of the Department of Corrections and the
Department of Juvenile Justice from certificate of need requirements; to provide
for legislative findings; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting
laws; and for other purposes.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION
1.
The
General Assembly finds that the safety of the citizens of this state is an
important and primary goal for the well-being of this state. The General
Assembly also recognizes that there is an obligation to provide certain medical
treatment to prisoners in penal institutions in this state. The General
Assembly further finds that transporting prisoners to community hospitals for
medical treatment presents a difficult situation of controlling the detainment
of prisoners while ensuring the safety of the general public. To this end, some
penal institutions may elect to establish medical facilities in such
institutions to provide the most secure option for rendering medical treatment
to prisoners. It is the belief of the General Assembly that for purposes of
public safety and because these medical facilities do not compete with hospitals
open to the public, penal institutions should not have to obtain a certificate
of need for the establishment of such medical facilities.
SECTION
2.
Code
Section 31-6-47 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to
exemptions from the certificate of need program, is amended by revising
subsection (a) as follows:
"(a)
Notwithstanding the other provisions of this chapter, this chapter shall not
apply to:
(1)
Infirmaries operated by educational institutions for the sole and exclusive
benefit of students, faculty members, officers, or employees
thereof;
(2)
Infirmaries or facilities operated by businesses for the sole and exclusive
benefit of officers or employees thereof, provided that such infirmaries or
facilities make no provision for overnight stay by persons receiving their
services;
(3)
Institutions operated exclusively by the federal government or by any of its
agencies;
(4)
Offices of private physicians or dentists whether for individual or group
practice, except as otherwise provided in subparagraphs (G) and (H) of paragraph
(14) of Code Section 31-6-2;
(5)
Christian Science sanatoriums operated or listed and certified by the First
Church of Christ Scientist, Boston, Massachusetts;
(6)
Site acquisitions for health care facilities or preparation or development costs
for such sites prior to the decision to file a certificate of need
application;
(7)
Expenditures related to adequate preparation and development of an application
for a certificate of need;
(8)
The commitment of funds conditioned upon the obtaining of a certificate of
need;
(9)
Expenditures for the acquisition of existing health care facilities by stock or
asset purchase, merger, consolidation, or other lawful means unless the
facilities are owned or operated by or on behalf of a:
(A)
Political subdivision of this state;
(B)
Combination of such political subdivisions; or
(C)
Hospital authority, as defined in Article 4 of Chapter 7 of this
title;
(9.1)
Expenditures for the restructuring of or for the acquisition by stock or asset
purchase, merger, consolidation, or other lawful means of an existing health
care facility which is owned or operated by or on behalf of any entity described
in subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) of paragraph (9) of this subsection only if
such restructuring or acquisition is made by any entity described in
subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) of paragraph (9) of this subsection;
(10)
Expenditures for the minor repair of a health care facility, or parts thereof or
services provided or equipment used therein, or replacement of equipment,
including, but not limited to, CT scanners;
(11)
Capital expenditures otherwise covered by this chapter required solely to
eliminate or prevent safety hazards as defined by federal, state, or local fire,
building, environmental, occupational health, or life safety codes or
regulations, to comply with licensing requirements of the Department of Human
Resources, or to comply with accreditation standards of the Joint Commission on
Accreditation of Hospitals;
(12)
Cost overruns whose percentage of the cost of a project is equal to or less than
the cumulative annual rate of increase in the composite construction index,
published by the Bureau of the Census of the Department of Commerce, of the
United States government, calculated from the date of approval of the
project;
(13)
Transfers from one health care facility to another such facility of major
medical equipment previously approved under or exempted from certificate of need
review, except where such transfer results in the institution of a new clinical
health service for which a certificate of need is required in the facility
acquiring said equipment, provided that such transfers are recorded at net book
value of the medical equipment as recorded on the books of the transferring
facility;
(14)
New institutional health services provided by or on behalf of health maintenance
organizations or related health care facilities in circumstances defined by the
department pursuant to federal law;
(15)
Increases in the bed capacity of a hospital up to ten beds or 10 percent of
capacity, whichever is less, in any consecutive two-year period, in a hospital
that has maintained an overall occupancy rate greater than 85 percent for the
previous 12 month period;
and
(16)
Capital expenditures for a project otherwise requiring a certificate of need if
those expenditures are for a project to remodel, renovate, replace, or any
combination thereof, a medical-surgical hospital and:
(A)
That hospital:
(i)
Has a bed capacity of not more than 50 beds;
(ii)
Is located in a county in which no other medical-surgical hospital is
located;
(iii)
Has at any time been designated as a disproportionate share hospital by the
Department of Community Health; and
(iv)
Has at least 45 percent of its patient revenues derived from medicare, Medicaid,
or any combination thereof, for the immediately preceding three years;
and
(B)
That project:
(i)
Does not result in any of the following:
(I)
The offering of any new clinical health services;
(II)
Any increase in bed capacity;
(III)
Any redistribution of existing beds among existing clinical health services;
or
(IV)
Any increase in capacity of existing clinical health services;
(ii)
Has at least 80 percent of its capital expenditures financed by the proceeds of
a special purpose county sales and use tax imposed pursuant to Article 3 of
Chapter 8 of Title 48; and
(iii)
Is located within a three-mile radius of and within the same county as the
hospital´s existing
facility;
and
(17)
Infirmaries or facilities operated by the Department of Corrections or the
Department of Juvenile Justice for the sole and exclusive purpose of providing
health care services in a secure environment to prisoners, guards, and other
individuals within a penal institution, penitentiary, prison, detention center,
or other secure correctional institution. This shall include correctional
institutions operated by private entities in this state which house inmates
under the Department of Corrections or the Department of Juvenile
Justice."
SECTION
3.
All
laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.