CHAPTER 50
FORMERLY
HOUSE BILL NO. 89
AS AMENDED BY
HOUSE AMENDMENT NO. 1
AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO HEALTH PLANNING AND RESOURCES MANAGEMENT.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE:
Section 1. Amend § 9302(4), Chapter 93, Title 16 of the Delaware Code
by making deletions as shown by strike through and insertions as shown by underlining as follows
:
(4) "Health care facility" shall include hospital, nursing home, freestanding birthing center, freestanding surgical center, freestanding acute inpatient rehabilitation hospital, and freestanding emergency center, whether or not licensed or required to be licensed by the State, whether operated for profit or nonprofit and whether privately owned or operated or owned or operated by a unit of State or local government. The term also includes continual care communities and any other nontraditional, long-term care facilities identified by the Department of Health and Social Services or the Delaware Health Care Commission. The term does not include Christian Science sanatoriums operated or listed and certified by the First Church of Christ Scientist, Boston, Massachusetts. The term shall not include any physician's office, whether an individual or group practice, any independent clinical laboratory or any radiology laboratory. The term shall also not include the office of any other licensed health care provider, including, but not limited to, physical therapist, dentist, physician assistant, podiatrist, chiropractor, an independently practicing nurse or nurse practitioner, optometrist, pharmacist or psychologist. The term also shall not include any dispensary or first aid station located within a business or industrial establishment maintained solely for the use of employees, provided that the facility does not contain inpatient beds, nor shall it apply to any first aid station or dispensary or infirmary offering non-acute services exclusively for use by students and employees of a school or university or by inmates and employees of a prison, provided that services delivered therein are not the substantial equivalent of hospital services in the same area or community. Further:
a. "Freestanding birthing center" shall mean any facility licensed as such pursuant to Chapter 1 of this title and more particularly in the State Board of Health Regulations.
b. "Freestanding emergency center" shall mean any facility licensed as such pursuant to Chapter 1 of this title and more particularly § 52 of the State Board of Health Regulations.
c. "Freestanding acute inpatient rehabilitation hospital" shall mean a facility that satisfies, or is expected by the person who will construct, develop or establish the facility to satisfy, the requirements of 42 C.F.R. § 412.23(b); provided that, if such facility is not paid under the prospective payment system specified in 42 C.F.R. § 412.1(a)(3) within 24 months after accepting its first patient, then it shall not be considered a freestanding acute inpatient rehabilitation hospital under this section.
d
c. "Freestanding surgical center" shall mean any facility licensed as such pursuant to Chapter 1 of this title and more particularly in the State Board of Health Regulations.
e
d. "Hospital" shall mean any nonfederal facility licensed as such pursuant to Chapter 10 of this title and more particularly § 50 of the State Board of Health Regulations.
f
e. "Nursing home" shall mean any nonfederal facility licensed as such pursuant to Chapter 11 of this title and more particularly § 57 (Skilled care) and § 58 (Intermediate care) of the State Board of Health Regulations.
Section 2. Amend § 9304(4), Chapter 93, Title 16 of the Delaware Code
by making deletions as shown by strike through and insertions as shown by underlining as follows
:
(4) The acquisition of major medical equipment, whether or not by a health care facility and whether or not the acquisition is through a capital expenditure, an operating expense or a donation. The replacement of major medical equipment with similar equipment shall not be subject to review under this chapter. In the case of major medical equipment acquired by an entity outside of Delaware, the use of that major medical equipment within Delaware, whether or not on a mobile basis, is subject to review under this chapter. Major medical equipment which is acquired for use in a freestanding acute inpatient rehabilitation hospital, as defined in § 9302(4) of this chapter, a dispensary or first aid station located within a business or industrial establishment maintained solely for the use of employees or in a first aid station, dispensary or infirmary offering services exclusively for use by students and employees of a school or university or by inmates and employees of a prison is not subject to review.
Section 3. Amend § 9304, Title 16 of the Delaware Code
by inserting a new subsection (5) as shown by underlining as follows
:
(5) Notwithstanding any other provision in this chapter to the contrary, any person who held, as of June 1, 2013, a certificate of public review issued by the Delaware Health Resources Board authorizing the construction of a 34-bed freestanding acute inpatient rehabilitation hospital in Middletown, Delaware, regardless of such certificate’s date of expiration or whether the certificate has otherwise been challenged on appeal, shall not be required to obtain any additional certificate of public review pursuant to this chapter prior to the construction, development, or other establishment of freestanding acute inpatient rehabilitation hospital. Any acute inpatient rehabilitation hospital constructed, developed, or established pursuant to this section shall not have any license or authority to operate denied, revoked, or restricted on the grounds that a certificate of public review has not been obtained or has otherwise been challenged on appeal.
Section 4. This Act shall be effective as of the date of its enactment. The provisions of Section 3 of this Act shall automatically terminate and become null and void on December 31, 2016.
Approved June 25, 2013