Minnesota Session Laws - 2004, Regular Session

                            CHAPTER 187-S.F.No. 1716 
                  An act relating to health; providing an exemption from 
                  the hospital construction moratorium; amending 
                  Minnesota Statutes 2003 Supplement, section 144.551, 
                  subdivision 1. 
        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
           Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 2003 Supplement, section 
        144.551, subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
           Subdivision 1.  [RESTRICTED CONSTRUCTION OR MODIFICATION.] 
        (a) The following construction or modification may not be 
        commenced:  
           (1) any erection, building, alteration, reconstruction, 
        modernization, improvement, extension, lease, or other 
        acquisition by or on behalf of a hospital that increases the bed 
        capacity of a hospital, relocates hospital beds from one 
        physical facility, complex, or site to another, or otherwise 
        results in an increase or redistribution of hospital beds within 
        the state; and 
           (2) the establishment of a new hospital.  
           (b) This section does not apply to:  
           (1) construction or relocation within a county by a 
        hospital, clinic, or other health care facility that is a 
        national referral center engaged in substantial programs of 
        patient care, medical research, and medical education meeting 
        state and national needs that receives more than 40 percent of 
        its patients from outside the state of Minnesota; 
           (2) a project for construction or modification for which a 
        health care facility held an approved certificate of need on May 
        1, 1984, regardless of the date of expiration of the 
        certificate; 
           (3) a project for which a certificate of need was denied 
        before July 1, 1990, if a timely appeal results in an order 
        reversing the denial; 
           (4) a project exempted from certificate of need 
        requirements by Laws 1981, chapter 200, section 2; 
           (5) a project involving consolidation of pediatric 
        specialty hospital services within the Minneapolis-St. Paul 
        metropolitan area that would not result in a net increase in the 
        number of pediatric specialty hospital beds among the hospitals 
        being consolidated; 
           (6) a project involving the temporary relocation of 
        pediatric-orthopedic hospital beds to an existing licensed 
        hospital that will allow for the reconstruction of a new 
        philanthropic, pediatric-orthopedic hospital on an existing site 
        and that will not result in a net increase in the number of 
        hospital beds.  Upon completion of the reconstruction, the 
        licenses of both hospitals must be reinstated at the capacity 
        that existed on each site before the relocation; 
           (7) the relocation or redistribution of hospital beds 
        within a hospital building or identifiable complex of buildings 
        provided the relocation or redistribution does not result in: 
        (i) an increase in the overall bed capacity at that site; (ii) 
        relocation of hospital beds from one physical site or complex to 
        another; or (iii) redistribution of hospital beds within the 
        state or a region of the state; 
           (8) relocation or redistribution of hospital beds within a 
        hospital corporate system that involves the transfer of beds 
        from a closed facility site or complex to an existing site or 
        complex provided that:  (i) no more than 50 percent of the 
        capacity of the closed facility is transferred; (ii) the 
        capacity of the site or complex to which the beds are 
        transferred does not increase by more than 50 percent; (iii) the 
        beds are not transferred outside of a federal health systems 
        agency boundary in place on July 1, 1983; and (iv) the 
        relocation or redistribution does not involve the construction 
        of a new hospital building; 
           (9) a construction project involving up to 35 new beds in a 
        psychiatric hospital in Rice County that primarily serves 
        adolescents and that receives more than 70 percent of its 
        patients from outside the state of Minnesota; 
           (10) a project to replace a hospital or hospitals with a 
        combined licensed capacity of 130 beds or less if:  (i) the new 
        hospital site is located within five miles of the current site; 
        and (ii) the total licensed capacity of the replacement 
        hospital, either at the time of construction of the initial 
        building or as the result of future expansion, will not exceed 
        70 licensed hospital beds, or the combined licensed capacity of 
        the hospitals, whichever is less; 
           (11) the relocation of licensed hospital beds from an 
        existing state facility operated by the commissioner of human 
        services to a new or existing facility, building, or complex 
        operated by the commissioner of human services; from one 
        regional treatment center site to another; or from one building 
        or site to a new or existing building or site on the same 
        campus; 
           (12) the construction or relocation of hospital beds 
        operated by a hospital having a statutory obligation to provide 
        hospital and medical services for the indigent that does not 
        result in a net increase in the number of hospital beds; 
           (13) a construction project involving the addition of up to 
        31 new beds in an existing nonfederal hospital in Beltrami 
        County; 
           (14) a construction project involving the addition of up to 
        eight new beds in an existing nonfederal hospital in Otter Tail 
        County with 100 licensed acute care beds; 
           (15) a construction project involving the addition of 20 
        new hospital beds used for rehabilitation services in an 
        existing hospital in Carver County serving the southwest 
        suburban metropolitan area.  Beds constructed under this clause 
        shall not be eligible for reimbursement under medical 
        assistance, general assistance medical care, or MinnesotaCare; 
        or 
           (16) a project for the construction or relocation of up to 
        20 hospital beds for the operation of up to two psychiatric 
        facilities or units for children provided that the operation of 
        the facilities or units have received the approval of the 
        commissioner of human services; 
           (17) a project involving the addition of 14 new hospital 
        beds to be used for rehabilitation services in an existing 
        hospital in Itasca County; or 
           (18) a project to add 20 licensed beds in existing space at 
        a hospital in Hennepin County that closed 20 rehabilitation beds 
        in 2002, provided that the beds are used only for rehabilitation 
        in the hospital's current rehabilitation building.  If the beds 
        are used for another purpose or moved to another location, the 
        hospital's licensed capacity is reduced by 20 beds. 
           Presented to the governor May 7, 2004 
           Signed by the governor May 10, 2004, 8:55 p.m.