§16-2D-10 Appeal of certificate of need decisions.
§16-2D-10. Appeal of certificate of need decisions.
(a) A final decision of the state agency, including a state agency decision issued after a reconsideration, if such reconsideration was requested and granted under subsection (r), section seven of this article, and the record upon which it was made, shall upon request of any affected persons be reviewed by an agency of the state (other than the state agency) designated by the governor. To be effective, such request shall be received within thirty days after the date the affected person received notice of the state agency decision, and the hearing shall commence within thirty days of receipt of the request.
(b) To the extent not inconsistent with this section, for the purpose of administrative reviews of state agency decisions, the review agency shall conduct its proceedings in conformance with the West Virginia rules of civil procedure for trial courts of record and the local rules for use in the civil courts of Kanawha County and shall review appeals in accordance with the provisions governing the judicial review of contested administrative cases in section four, article five, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, notwithstanding the exceptions of section five, article five, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code.
(c) The decision of the reviewing agency shall be made in writing within forty-five days after the conclusion of such hearing.
(d) The written findings of the review agency shall be sent to the person who requested the review, to the person proposing the new institutional health service and to the state agency, and shall be made available by the state agency to others upon request.
(e) The decision of the reviewing agency shall be considered the final decision of the state agency; however, the reviewing agency may remand the matter to the state agency for further action or consideration.
(f) Upon the entry of a final decision by the reviewing agency any "person adversely affected by the review" has standing in and may within thirty days after the date such person received notice of the decision of the review agency take an appeal at the election of the petitioner, in either the circuit court of Kanawha County, or in the circuit court of the county in which the petitioner or any of the petitioners resides or does business, from any decision of the state agency granting, with or without conditions, denying or withdrawing a certificate of need or exemption. The decision of the review agency shall be reviewed by such circuit court in accordance with the provisions for the judicial review of administrative decisions contained in section four, article five, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code. For the purposes of this subsection, "person adversely affected by the review" includes the state agency and any person who meets the definition of affected person in section two of this article.