West Virginia Code § 16-2D-11

Exemptions from certificate of need which require the submission of
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information to the authority.
(a) To obtain an exemption under this section a person shall:
(1) File an exemption application; and
(2) Provide a statement detailing which exemption applies and the circumstances justifying
the exemption.
(b) Notwithstanding §16-2D-8 of this code and §16-2D-10 of this code and except as provided
in §16-2D-9 of this code, the Legislature finds that a need exists and these health services
are exempt from the certificate of need process:
(1) The acquisition and utilization of one computed tomaography scanner with a purchase
price up to $750,000 that is installed in a private office practice where at minimum 75
percent of the scans are performed on the patientsl of the practice. The private office
practice shall obtain and maintain accreditation from the American College of Radiology
prior to, and at all times during, the offering of this service. The authority may at any time
request from the private office practice infiormation relating to the number of patients who
have been provided scans and proof of active and continuous accreditation from the
American College of Radiology. If a physician owns or operates a private office practice in
more than one location, this exemption shall only apply to the physician's primary place of
business and if a physician wants to expand the offering of this service to include more than
one computed topography scanner, he or she shall be required to obtain a certificate of need
prior to expanding this service. All current certificates of need issued for computed
tomography services, with a required percentage threshold of scans to be performed on
patients of the practice in excess of 75 percent, shall be reduced to 75 percent: Provided,
That these limitations on the exemption for a private office practice with more than one
location shall not apply to a private office practice with more than 20 locations in the state
on AWpril 8, 2017.
(2) (A) A health care facility acquiring major medical equipment, adding health services or
obligating a capital expenditure to be used solely for research;
(B) To qualify for this exemption, the health care facility shall show that the acquisition,
offering, or obligation will not:
(i) Affect the charges of the facility for the provision of medical or other patient care services
other than the services which are included in the research;
(ii) Result in a substantial change to the bed capacity of the facility; or
(iii) Result in a substantial change to the health services of the facility.
(C) For purposes of this subdivision, the term "solely for research" includes patient care
provided on an occasional and irregular basis and not as part of a research program;
(3) The obligation of a capital expenditure to acquire, either by purchase, lease or
comparable arrangement, the real property, equipment or operations of a skilled nursing
facility: Provided, That a skilled nursing facility developed pursuant to subdivision (15) of
this section and subsequently acquired pursuant to this subdivision may not transfer or sell
any of the skilled nursing home beds of the acquired skilled nursing facility euntil the skilled
nursing facility has been in operation for at least 10 years.
(4) Shared health services between two or more hospitals licensed in West Virginia providing
health services made available through existing technology that ucan reasonably be mobile.
This exemption does not include providing mobile cardiac catheterization;
(5) The acquisition, development, or establishment of a certified interoperable electronic
health record or electronic medical record system; a
(6) The addition of forensic beds in a health care falcility;
(7) A behavioral health service selected by the Department of Human Services in response to
its request for application for services inteinded to return children currently placed in out-of-
state facilities to the state or to prevent placement of children in out-of-state facilities is not
subject to a certificate of need;
(8) The replacement of major medical equipment with like equipment, only if the
replacement major medical equipment cost is more than the expenditure minimum;
(9) Renovations within a hospital, only if the renovation cost is more than the expenditure
minimum. The renov ations may not expand the health care facility's current square footage,
incur a substaVntial change to the health services, or a substantial change to the bed
capacity;
(10) Renovations to a skilled nursing facility;
(11) The donation of major medical equipment to replace like equipment for which a
certificate of need has been issued and the replacement does not result in a substantial
change to health services. This exemption does not include the donation of major medical
equipment made to a health care facility by a related organization;
(12) A person providing specialized foster care personal care services to one individual and
those services are delivered in the provider's home;
(13) A hospital converting the use of beds except a hospital may not convert a bed to a
skilled nursing home bed and conversion of beds may not result in a substantial change to
health services provided by the hospital;
(14) The construction, renovation, maintenance, or operation of a state-owned veterans
skilled nursing facilities established pursuant to the provisions of §16-1B-1 et seq. of this
code;
(15) To develop and operate a skilled nursing facility with no more than 36 beds in a county
that currently is without a skilled nursing facility;
(16) A critical access hospital, designated by the state as a critical access hospital, after
meeting all federal eligibility criteria, previously licensed as a hospital and subsequently
closed, if it reopens within 10 years of its closure;
(17) The establishing of a heath care facility or offering of healthu services for children under
one year of age suffering from Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome;
(18) The construction, development, acquisition, or other establishment of community
mental health and intellectual disability facility; a
(19) Providing behavioral health facilities and servilces;
(20) The construction, development, acquisition, or other establishment of kidney disease
treatment centers, including freestanding hemodialysis units but only to a medically
underserved population;
(21) The transfer, purchase or sale of intermediate care or skilled nursing beds from a
skilled nursing facility or a skilled nursing unit of an acute care hospital to a skilled nursing
facility providing intermediate care and skilled nursing services. The Department of Human
Service or the Office of Health Facility Licensure and Certification may not create a policy
which limits the transfer, purchase or sale of intermediate care or skilled nursing beds from
a skilled nursing faci lity or a skilled nursing unit of an acute care hospital. The transferred
beds shall retVain the same certification status that existed at the nursing home or hospital
skilled nursing unit from which they were acquired. If construction is required to place the
transferred beds into the acquiring nursing home, the acquiring nursing home has one year
from the date of purchase to commence construction;
(22) The construction, development, acquisition, or other establishment by a health care
facility of a nonhealth related project, only if the nonhealth related project cost is more than
the expenditure minimum;
(23) The construction, development, acquisition, or other establishment of an alcohol or drug
treatment facility and drug and alcohol treatment services unless the construction,
development, acquisition, or other establishment is an opioid treatment facility or programs
as set forth in subdivision (4) of §16-2D-9 of this code;
(24) Assisted living facilities and services;
(25) The creation, construction, acquisition, or expansion of a community-based nonprofit
organization with a community board that provides or will provide primary care services to
people without regard to ability to pay and receives approval from the Health Resources and
Services Administration; and
(26) The acquisition and utilization of one computed tomography scanner and/or one
magnetic resonance imaging scanner with a purchase price of up to $750,000 by a hospital.

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