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Ohio Revises One-Year Rule for Relocation of Long-Term Care Beds in Hospitals
February 2011
Effective February 1, 2011, Ohio Administrative Code rule 3701-12-23.2 no longer
requires a long-term care or skilled nursing unit in a hospital
to be operational within the year prior to filing a Certificate of Need
application for the relocation of the long-term care or skilled nursing unit
beds. This means the rule may apply differently to hospital-operated long-term
care beds as contrasted with long-term care beds operated in non-hospital
nursing facilities. The revision only requires that the facility
from which the beds are being relocated be an "existing health-care facility,"
with an "existing health-care facility" defined as a facility that is licensed
or authorized to operate in the state and is actively providing health-care
services. Accordingly, under this change, provided the hospital as a whole
remains operational, even if the entire skilled nursing unit is shut down,
there is no time limit in which a long-term care or skilled nursing unit can be
closed prior to filing a Certificate of Need application for the relocation of
the long-term care or skilled nursing unit beds operated in such unit.
For non-hospital nursing facilities the rule is the same, but because nursing
facilities typically do not offer any other health-care services, the closure
of all of the beds is also a closure of the facility, thereby triggering the
one-year rule. Nursing facilities can, however, cease operating any number of
their beds so long as some beds remain operational without triggering the
one-year rule. However, this probably would not make good economic sense
because nursing facilities would still be required to pay the franchise permit
fee (also known as the “bed tax”) for all of the beds, whether operational or
not, if they want to retain the right to operate them or sell them in the
future.
To view previous Long-Term Care publications, please vist our
Certificate of Need Resource Center.
If you have any questions about this rule, you may contact Chris Kenney at
ckenney@QMCG.com or 614.227.4865.
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