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If you’re considering starting or expanding a health care service in Kentucky, you need to start planning.
Kentucky was an early adopter of certificate of need laws. First promulgated in the 1970’s, certificate of need, or “CON,” programs were instituted for the purpose of reducing costs by minimizing duplication of services that were not needed.
As a general rule, any person or entity wanting to provide a health care service in Kentucky is required to first go through the CON process. For many, that will be a short process, as there are a litany of exemptions to the program. For instance, private offices of physicians are not required to have a CON. For many others, however, they will need to go through the full CON process.
That process begins with identifying whether the service proposed is regulated as part of the state health plan or not. If not, then the process will be shorter as it qualifies for what is called “non-substantive review.” As the name suggests, it is not as entailed as the substantive review. Pursuant to new regulations, parties wishing to offer a service subject to non-substantitve review will be grouped with all other “non-sub” applications by the month of filing.
If, however, the applicant is offering a service subject to substantive review, like offering home health care or an ambulance service, then applicants will be want to identify the “batching cycle” for their proposed service. Batches are grouped semi-annually, meaning applicants only have two opportunities during the year to apply. Hence, why planning is key, since an applicant may want to begin the process only to learn they just missed the filing deadlines of the just-past batching cycle.
The CON process is one open to any practitioner, but a number of attorneys have developed their practices in assisting applicants and current CON holders with the CON process. If you are considering offering or expanding a health care service in Kentucky, the CON process requires you to start planning.
The CON program is managed by staff with the Cabinet for Health & Family Services. The Kentucky Office of Health Policy’s Certificate of Need website is a good starting point for the relevant statutes, regulations, and reference materials.