3702.528 Reviewability ruling concerning relocation.

(A) A certificate of need is not required for the relocation of existing beds or health services from a hospital located in a metropolitan statistical area to another hospital located in the same metropolitan statistical area, or from a hospital located in a rural area to another hospital located in the same county, that otherwise constitutes a reviewable activity as defined in division (R)(1), (2), (6), (7)(a) or (c), (8), (9), (10), or (11) of section 3702.51 of the Revised Code, if all of the following conditions are met:

(1) At least sixty days before the relocation occurs, each hospital requests from the director of health a reviewability ruling concerning the relocation;

(2) The director rules in accordance with division (B) of this section that the relocation is not a reviewable activity because access to health care for the patients historically served by the beds or services would not be adversely affected;

(3) If the relocation involves a health service that the receiving hospital does not operate at the time of the relocation, and for purposes of division (A)(3) of this section obstetric and newborn care services of differing service-level designations constitute different health services, the hospital operating the service at the time of the relocation ceases to provide it and removes from service all of the beds and medical equipment involved in providing it;

(4) If the relocation involves obstetric or newborn care, the relocation does not result in an increase in the service-level designation of the relocated beds;

(5) In addition to the beds removed from each hospital’s complement of registered beds because they have been relocated to the other hospital, the total number of registered beds in the hospitals participating in the relocation is reduced by the same number of beds as are involved in the relocation;

(6) Each hospital submits to the department of health, not later than thirty days after the relocation is completed, an accurate statement of the number of beds at the hospital and the health services added to or removed from the hospital.

(B) Each request for a reviewability ruling shall include information required in rules adopted under section 3702.57 of the Revised Code to enable the director to determine whether the relocation would adversely affect access to health care for patients historically served by the beds. If the director determines that a proposed relocation would adversely affect access to health care for those patients, the director shall rule the relocation a reviewable activity. If the director does not so determine, the director shall rule the activity not a reviewable activity. This division does not supersede the provision of division (A) of section 3702.52 of the Revised Code that an activity is considered to have been ruled not a reviewable activity if the director does not issue a ruling within forty-five days after receiving a request for a ruling.

(C) Division (A) of this section does not apply to relocations that involve a reviewable activity as defined in division (R)(3), (4), (5), or (7)(b) or division (S) of section 3702.51 of the Revised Code. Division (A) of this section does not apply to relocations between hospitals located in different primary metropolitan statistical areas that constitute a consolidated metropolitan statistical area, both as designated in United States office of management and budget bulletin No. 93-17, June 30, 1993, and its attachments.

Effective Date: 06-30-1995