135.64 - CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION OF APPLICATIONS.

        135.64  CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION OF APPLICATIONS.
         1.  In determining whether a certificate of need shall be issued,
      the department and council shall consider the following:
         a.  The contribution of the proposed institutional health
      service in meeting the needs of the medically underserved, including
      persons in rural areas, low-income persons, racial and ethnic
      minorities, persons with disabilities, and the elderly, as well as
      the extent to which medically underserved residents in the
      applicant's service area are likely to have access to the proposed
      institutional health service.
         b.  The relationship of the proposed institutional health
      services to the long-range development plan, if any, of the person
      providing or proposing the services.
         c.  The need of the population served or to be served by the
      proposed institutional health services for those services.
         d.  The distance, convenience, cost of transportation, and
      accessibility to health services for persons who live outside
      metropolitan areas.
         e.  The availability of alternative, less costly, or more
      effective methods of providing the proposed institutional health
      services.
         f.  The immediate and long-term financial feasibility of the
      proposal presented in the application, as well as the probable impact
      of the proposal on the costs of and charges for providing health
      services by the person proposing the new institutional health
      service.
         g.  The relationship of the proposed institutional health
      services to the existing health care system of the area in which
      those services are proposed to be provided.
         h.  The appropriate and efficient use or prospective use of
      the proposed institutional health service, and of any existing
      similar services, including but not limited to a consideration of the
      capacity of the sponsor's facility to provide the proposed service,
      and possible sharing or cooperative arrangements among existing
      facilities and providers.
         i.  The availability of resources, including, but not limited
      to, health care providers, management personnel, and funds for
      capital and operating needs, to provide the proposed institutional
      health services and the possible alternative uses of those resources
      to provide other health services.
         j.  The appropriate and nondiscriminatory utilization of
      existing and available health care providers. Where both allopathic
      and osteopathic institutional health services exist, each application
      shall be considered in light of the availability and utilization of
      both allopathic and osteopathic facilities and services in order to
      protect the freedom of choice of consumers and health care providers.

         k.  The relationship, including the organizational
      relationship, of the proposed institutional health services to
      ancillary or support services.
         l.  Special needs and circumstances of those entities which
      provide a substantial portion of their services or resources, or
      both, to individuals not residing in the immediate geographic area in
      which the entities are located, which entities may include but are
      not limited to medical and other health professional schools,
      multidisciplinary clinics, and specialty centers.
         m.  The special needs and circumstances of health maintenance
      organizations.
         n.  The special needs and circumstances of biomedical and
      behavioral research projects designed to meet a national need and for
      which local conditions offer special advantages.
         o.  The impact of relocation of an institutional health
      facility or health maintenance organization on other institutional
      health facilities or health maintenance organizations and on the
      needs of the population to be served, or which was previously served,
      or both.
         p.  In the case of a construction project, the costs and
      methods of the proposed construction and the probable impact of the
      proposed construction project on total health care costs.
         q.  In the case of a proposal for the addition of beds to a
      health care facility, the consistency of the proposed addition with
      the plans of other agencies of this state responsible for provision
      and financing of long-term care services, including home health
      services.
         r.  The recommendations of staff personnel of the department
      assigned to the area of certificate of need, concerning the
      application, if requested by the council.
         2.  In addition to the findings required with respect to any of
      the criteria listed in subsection 1 of this section, the council
      shall grant a certificate of need for a new institutional health
      service or changed institutional health service only if it finds in
      writing, on the basis of data submitted to it by the department,
      that:
         a.  Less costly, more efficient, or more appropriate
      alternatives to the proposed institutional health service are not
      available and the development of such alternatives is not
      practicable;
         b.  Any existing facilities providing institutional health
      services similar to those proposed are being used in an appropriate
      and efficient manner;
         c.  In the case of new construction, alternatives including
      but not limited to modernization or sharing arrangements have been
      considered and have been implemented to the maximum extent
      practicable;
         d.  Patients will experience serious problems in obtaining
      care of the type which will be furnished by the proposed new
      institutional health service or changed institutional health service,
      in the absence of that proposed new service.
         3.  In the evaluation of applications for certificates of need
      submitted by university hospital at Iowa City, the unique features of
      that institution relating to statewide tertiary health care, health
      science education, and clinical research shall be given due
      consideration. Further, in administering this division, the unique
      capacity of university hospitals for the evaluation of
      technologically innovative equipment and other new health services
      shall be utilized.  
         Section History: Early Form
         [C79, 81, § 135.64] 
         Section History: Recent Form
         91 Acts, ch 225, § 5; 92 Acts, ch 1043, § 2; 96 Acts, ch 1129, §
      113; 2002 Acts, ch 1120, §11
         Referred to in § 135.65, 135.66, 135.72