HB 5447 - Certificate of Need Process

• Restructures Connecticut's certificate of need (CON) review process by creating a narrower list of specific health care projects requiring CON approval, including new facilities, ownership transfers, emergency departments, behavioral health services, outpatient surgical facilities, cardiac services, and imaging equipment acquisitions.

• Establishes new review criteria focused on community need, financial strength, quality and safety improvements, Medicaid/indigent care provision, population identification, existing facility utilization, and prevention of service duplication.

• Creates a 90-day application review period with provisions for extension, requires applicants to submit a $500 non-refundable application fee and publish notice of application in local newspapers, and mandates public hearings when requested by three or more individuals or entities with five or more people.

• Eliminates the previous detailed deliberation standards and state health plan consistency requirements, replacing them with streamlined criteria and transferring certain administrative functions of the Office of Health Care Access to the Department of Public Health.

• Consolidates enforcement provisions, establishing penalties of $100-$500 per violation for non-compliance and allowing license suspension or revocation for failure to obtain required certificates of need or comply with certificate conditions.