CON Filing Requirements

CERTIFICATE OF NEED FILING REQUIREMENTS

Notices of Intent

Effective July 1, 2008, O.C.G.A. 31-6-40(b) provides that:

Any person proposing to develop or offer a new institutional health service or health care facility shall, before commencing such activity, submit a letter of intent and an application to the Department and obtain a certificate of need in the manner provided in this chapter unless such activity is excluded from the scope of this chapter.

O.C.G.A. 31-6-43(a) further provides that:

At least 30 days prior to submitting an application for a certificate of need for clinical health services, a person shall submit a letter of intent to the Department.  The Department shall provide by rule a process for submitting letters of intent and a mechanism by which applications may be filed to compete with and be reviewed comparatively with proposals described in submitted letters of intent.

All parties interested in applying for a certificate of need for new institutional health services MUST NOW NOTIFY THE DEPARTMENT 30 DAYS PRIOR TO FILING AN APPLICATION of their intent to do so.  This notice must be in writing and must contain the following information:

Name and address of legal applicant;
Person to whom inquiries may be addressed;
Name, address of facility, if different from legal applicant;
Proposed Project Site Location;
Brief summary description of proposal;
Proposed service area; and,
Cost of the project.

The Department will not accept any notices of intent submitted by either telephone, facsimile or e-mail pursuant to Rule 111-2-2-.06(5).

Note: The Department will begin implementing the Letter of Intent requirement on July 15, 2008.  Beginning with that date, no CON application will be accepted without a previously filed Letter of Intent.  The CON application must be submitted no later than 30 days after the Letter of Intent has been received by the Department.

BATCHING REQUIREMENTS

The Department will be promulgating rules for services that will now be batched pursuant to O.C.G.A. 31-6-43(e) which states:

To allow the opportunity for comparative review of applications, the Department may provide by rule for applications for a certificate of need to be submitted on a timetable or batching cycle basis no less often than two times per calendar year for each clinical health service.  Applications for services, facilities, or expenditures for which there is no specified batching cycle may be filed at any time.

The requirements for Notices of Intent associated with designated Batching Cycles will be issued at the time of publication of the Batching Notice.