Section 151-C:5 Standard Development.
I. Prior to development or review of any new institutional health service the board shall publish in one or more newspapers of general circulation within each county, a description of the scope of coverage of its program for development and review of standards and the review of applications responding to requests for applications (RFA's) including the activities covered in RSA 151-C:5, II and 151-C:13. Whenever the scope of such coverage is revised, the board shall publish a revised description thereof, as provided in this paragraph.
II. The board shall develop standards for new institutional health services. These include the following:
(a) The construction, development, expansion, or alteration of any acute care facility requiring a capital expenditure of more than $1,759,512. The board shall, by rule, adjust the capital expenditure threshold annually using an appropriate inflation index.
(b) The transfer of ownership, in whole or in part, of an existing health care facility, or the acquisition of all or substantially all of its assets or stock, except where the transfer of ownership would be subject to the provisions of reevaluation of assets as outlined in the Federal Deficit Reduction Act of 1984;
(c) The development and offering of new inpatient services;
(d) The purchase, lease, donation, transfer, or other comparable arrangement by or on behalf of a health care provider of diagnostic or therapeutic equipment for which the cost or, in the case of donation, the value is in excess of $400,000, including standards for one or more articles of diagnostic or therapeutic equipment which are necessarily interdependent in the performance of their ordinary functions as determined by the board. The board shall not develop standards for the purchase of equipment which is substantially similar to equipment owned by the provider within the preceding 12 months, provided the equipment will not result in a substantial increase in operating costs above that of the existing or replaced equipment;
(e) The increase or conversion of inpatient beds;
(f) (1) Except as provided in subparagraph (2), the construction, development, expansion, renovation, or alteration of any nursing home, ambulatory surgical facility, rehabilitation hospital, psychiatric hospital, specialty hospital, or other health care facility requiring a capital expenditure of more than $1,173,000. The board shall, by rule, adjust the capital expenditure threshold annually using an appropriate inflation index.
(2) The threshold amount for construction of ambulatory surgical centers within the service area of a hospital with fewer than 70 general hospital beds licensed by the department of health and human services shall be $500,000, which threshold shall be adjusted annually using an appropriate inflation index, unless there is an objection by such hospital, in which case the application shall be subject to review regardless of value. The board shall determine by rule the service areas of such hospitals.
III. The board shall develop, pursuant to rules adopted under RSA 541-A, standards of need on health care services listed in paragraph II of this section. The board shall publish notice of proposed standards in a state-wide newspaper and at least one newspaper in each county of the state. Each notice shall include dates and locations of public hearings.
Source. 1985, 378:6. 1988, 275:8. 1991, 333:4-7. 1995, 190:17. 2000, 312:1, 2, eff. June 21, 2000.