HD57 - Annual Report on the Status of Virginia's Medical Care Facilities Certificate of Public Need Program


Executive Summary:
This third annual report to the Governor and the General Assembly of Virginia on the status of Virginia's Medical Care Facilities Certificate of Public Need (COPN) Program has been developed pursuant to § 32.1-101.12 of the Code of Virginia of 1950, as amended.

The COPN Program is a regulatory program administered by the Virginia Department of Health (VDH). It regulates certain categories of capital investment by and/or for certain categories of medical care facilities and services. Capital projects regulated within the COPN Program must be authorized by the State Health Commissioner prior to implementation.

The State Health Commissioner issued 79 certificate of public need decisions in FY 1999, authorizing or conditionally authorizing A9 projects at a total capital expenditure of $252,426,976 and denying 30 requests with proposed capital expenditures totaling $113,617,556. Eighteen COPN requests, proposing projects with estimated capital expenditures totaling $48,559,262, were filed and deemed complete for review but subsequently withdrawn during the fiscal year.

VDH has established a five-year schedule (1997-2001) for analysis of all project categories within the scope of COPN regulation as it existed in 1997. The schedule provides for analysis of at least three project categories per year. This report considers the appropriateness of COPN regulation of long-term hospitals, nursing facilities, medical rehabilitation facilities and mental retardation facilities. It also addresses health care market reform, the accessibility of regulated medical care facilities by the indigent, and the quality of medical care in regulated facilities within the context of COPN regulation.

In this year's report, alternate policy options were developed for each of the four categories of facilities under review. Based on the review of their appropriateness for COPN regulation, VDH recommends deregulation as a viable option for three of the four categories reviewed and defers to the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Substance Abuse Services on the fourth.