Section 401.15. Certificate of Need application procedures and filing fees

(a) An application for a Certificate of Need shall be submitted to the Department on application forms provided by the Department. An applicant shall submit an original and one copy of the completed application to the Department of Health, Division of Need Review, and one copy of the completed application to the appropriate district office of the Department. The copy supplied to the district office is for public review, and copies of the application to persons other than the Department shall be supplied by the applicant in accordance with subsection (o).

(b) An application for a Certificate of Need will be accepted by the Department only on the first 5 business days of each month. Applications received after the fifth day will be returned to the applicant.

(c) Every person who submits to the Department an application for a Certificate of Need shall also file a nonrefundable fee as follows:

(1) For each Certificate of Need application, filed under section 702(b) of the act (35 P. S. § 448.702(b)), $500 plus $3 per $1,000 of proposed capital expenditure. The maximum application fee may not exceed $20,000 for a single proposal.

(2) The letter of intent fee shall be deducted from the required total application fee.

(d) The following formula shall be used in calculation of the required Certificate of Need application fee:

(g) The required fee for a Certificate of Need application, less previously paid letter of intent fee, is due upon filing of the application.

(h) An application shall be mailed to the Division of Need Review, Pennsylvania Department of Health, 1027 Health and Welfare Building, 7th and Forster Streets, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17120, accompanied by a certified check made payable to the ‘‘Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’’ in the correct amount of the fee. An application submitted without the correct fee in the form of a certified check will be returned immediately to the applicant. The Department will not begin a preliminary assessment of an application until the appropriate fee is paid in full as determined by the Department.

(i) Consistent with generally accepted accounting principles, a capital lease is a capital expenditure for purposes of Certificates of Need. A lease will be determined to be a capital lease if one or more of the following conditions applies:

(1) Ownership of the leased asset will be conveyed to the lessee at the end of the lease period.

(2) The lease gives the lessee the option to purchase the leased asset at less than fair market value at some point either during the lease period or at the end of the lease period.

(3) The period of the lease is 75% or more of the expected useful life of the leased asset.

(4) The present value of the minimum lease payments is 90% or more of the fair market value of the leased asset.

(j) Acquisition of a donated capital asset will be considered a capital expenditure for purposes of Certificates of Need. Valuation of donated capital assets will be the higher of historic cost or current market value, consistent with generally accepted accounting principles.

(k) Upon receipt of an application for a Certificate of Need and appropriate filing fee, the Department will conduct its preliminary assessment within 60 days, and determine whether additional information is required. If additional information is required, the Department will send notice to the applicant, stating what additional information is required. Upon receipt of the additional information, the Department will complete its preliminary assessment within 45 days of receipt of the same. Timely notice of the beginning of review of the application by the Department will be published after preliminary assessment of the application is completed by the Department.

(l) The Department retains the right to use an expedited review process.

(m) After 1 year from the date of the Department’s request for additional information, the Department will withdraw from further consideration a Certificate of Need application for which questions were asked, but no responsive answers have been received.

(n) The ‘‘date of notification’’ begins the 90-day time period in which the Department must complete review of the application. The date of notification shall be the date the Department sends notice to the applicant, or publishes a notice of the beginning of a review in the Pennsylvania Bulletin or in a newspaper of general circulation, whichever is latest.

(o) Interested persons may request a public meeting within 15 days of publication of the notice. A request for a public meeting shall be in writing and set forth specifically the reasons a public meeting is being requested. The applicant is required to provide a copy of the application to interested persons making a request for the application. The applicant may charge the interested person the reasonable cost of making the copy.

(p) A cost increase or a change in scope of a previously approved Certificate of Need will be regarded as a new proposal subject to application fees. The fee shall be $500, plus $3 per $1,000 for a proposed capital expenditure over the approved capital expenditure. The total amount of additional fee may not be more than $20,000. Modifications which result in additional capital costs to a proposal during the review process will be subject to additional fees payable at the time of submission of the modification to the Department.

The provisions of this § 401.15 adopted February 19, 1993, effective February 20, 1993, 23 Pa.B. 843.

Notation

Cross References

This section cited in 28 Pa. Code § 401.14 (relating to letters of intent and filing fees—statement of policy).