Washington State
House of Representatives
Office of Program Research
BILL
ANALYSIS
Health Care & Wellness Committee
SSB 5236
Brief Description: Extending certificate of need exemptions.
Sponsors: Senate Committee on Behavioral Health Subcommittee to Health & Long Term Care (originally sponsored by Senators Warnick, Dhingra, Nguyen and Wagoner).
Brief Summary of Substitute Bill
  • Extends the suspension of certificate of need requirements from June 30, 2021, to June 30, 2023, for certain entities that are either adding new psychiatric beds, changing the use of current beds to psychiatric services, or constructing new psychiatric hospitals.
Hearing Date: 3/10/21
Staff: Christopher Blake (786-7392).
Background:

The certificate of need process evaluates proposals by certain health care providers to expand health care activities and reviews the potential impact of the expansion on a community's need for the service.  A certificate of need from the Department of Health (Department) is required prior to the construction, renovation, or sale of a health care facility; changes in bed capacity; an increase in the number of dialysis stations at a kidney disease treatment center; or the addition of specialized health services.  Under the program, the Department reviews the project using specific criteria related to community need, quality of services, financial feasibility, and the impact on health care costs in the community.  A facility or service that is subject to the certificate of need program must be approved prior to beginning operations.
 
Certificate of need requirements have been suspended until June 30, 2021, for certain entities that increase the number of beds used to provide psychiatric services.  The exemptions apply to situations in which:

  • an acute care hospital changes the use of existing beds to provide psychiatric services or adds new psychiatric beds;
  • a psychiatric hospital adds up to 30 new psychiatric beds;
  • a psychiatric hospital adds up to 60 psychiatric beds, pursuant to a grant from the Department of Commerce awarded in fiscal year 2019, to be used for treating adults on 90- or 180-day involuntary commitment orders; and
  • an entity constructs a new psychiatric hospital with no more than 16 beds, a portion of which are to be used for treating adults on 90- or 180-day involuntary commitment orders.
Summary of Substitute Bill:

The suspension of certificate of need requirements for acute care hospitals changing the use of existing licensed beds to psychiatric services or adding new psychiatric beds is extended from June 30, 2021, to June 30, 2023. 
 
The suspension of certificate of need requirements for an entity constructing a new psychiatric hospital with no more than 16 beds, a portion of which are to be used for treating adults on 90- or 180-day involuntary commitment orders, is extended from June 30, 2021, to June 30, 2023.
 
The certificate of need exemption is eliminated for psychiatric hospitals adding up to 60 psychiatric beds, pursuant to a grant from the Department of Commerce awarded in fiscal year 2019, to be used for treating adults on 90- or 180-day involuntary commitment orders.  The suspension of certificate of need requirements for psychiatric hospitals adding up to 30 new beds is extended from June 30, 2021, to June 30, 2023, with the limitation that the beds be devoted solely for persons on 90- or 180-day involuntary commitment orders.  Additionally, certificate of need requirements are suspended for psychiatric hospitals adding up to 30 new voluntary psychiatric beds or involuntary psychiatric beds for patients on a 120-hour detention or 14-day civil commitment order.  The beds added by psychiatric hospitals must remain the type of psychiatric beds indicated in the original application unless a certificate of need is granted to change their use.
Appropriation: None.
Fiscal Note: Available.
Effective Date: The bill takes effect 90 days after adjournment of the session in which the bill is passed.