Alaska Administrative Code
Title 7 - Health and Social Services
Part 1 - Administration
Chapter 07 - Certificate of Need
7 AAC 07.900 - Definitions

Universal Citation: 7 AK Admin Code 7 AAC 07.900

Current through November 28, 2024

In this chapter, unless the context indicates otherwise,

(1) "activity" means the

(A) construction of a health care facility;

(B) alteration of the bed capacity of a health care facility;

(C) addition of a category of health services provided by a health care facility; or

(D) conversion of a building or part of a building to a nursing home that requires licensure under AS 47.32;

(2) "acute care hospital" has the meaning given "hospital" in AS 47.32.900;

(3) "ambulatory surgical center" has the meaning given in AS 47.32.900;

(4) "applicant" means a person who has submitted an originating application or a competing application;

(5) "certificate of need" has the meaning given "certificate" in AS 18.07.111;

(6) "certified estimate" means an estimate developed by a professional architect or engineer licensed under AS 08.48, or by an individual who is qualified to estimate the cost of health care facility equipment, demolition, and construction;

(7) "change in bed capacity" means the addition, reduction, relocation, or redistribution of beds by licensure classification within a health care facility;

(8) "commissioner" means the commissioner of health and social services;

(9) "concurrent application" means a certificate of need application submitted to the department in which the applicant is proposing to provide a similar activity, including a change in bed capacity, in the same service area for which an originating application has already been submitted;

(10) "construction" has the meaning given in AS 18.07.111;

(11) "critical access hospital" means a facility that is a hospital licensed in the state that satisfies the criteria set out in 42 U.S.C. 1395 i - 4(c)(2)(B) and meets the conditions of participation set out in 42 C.F.R. 485.601 - 485.647;

(12) "day" means calendar day;

(13) "demolition" means the tearing down, razing, destroying, or taking apart of an existing structure;

(14) "department" means the Department of Health and Social Services;

(15) "diagnostic testing" means an evaluation performed to aid in the diagnosis or detection of disease, to measure the progress or recovery from disease, or to confirm the absence of disease;

(16) "equipment"

(A) means an installed device or system of devices necessary for the safe, functional, and medically appropriate operation of the facility, including medical equipment, utilities, generators, boilers, furnaces, heating systems, sprinkler systems, air conditioning systems, ventilation systems, security systems, walk-in refrigeration units, vaults, and other elevators;

(B) does not include optional design features, furnishings, or decor choices that do not add to the minimum necessary for the safe, functional, and medically appropriate operation of the facility;

(17) "expenditure" has the meaning given in AS 18.07.031;

(18) "furnishings" means furniture, wall covering, or floor covering;

(19) "health care facility"

(A) has the meaning given in AS 18.07.111;

(B) includes, whether owned or operated by a private person, the state, or a local government of the state,
(i) an acute care hospital;

(ii) an ambulatory surgical center as defined in AS 47.32.900;

(iii) a critical access hospital;

(iv) an independent diagnostic testing facility;

(v) an intermediate care facility;

(vi) an intermediate care facility for the mentally retarded;

(vii) a kidney dialysis center;

(viii) a nursing facility;

(ix) a psychiatric hospital;

(x) a residential psychiatric treatment center;

(20) "holder" means the person to whom a certificate of need has been issued;

(21) "hospital" has the meaning given in AS 47.32.900;

(22) "independent" means a separately identifiable facility that is administratively and financially distinct from a health care facility licensed under AS 47.32;

(23) "independent diagnostic testing facility" means an outpatient facility, fixed or mobile, that is

(A) designed and equipped solely to perform diagnostic testing using major diagnostic testing equipment for an independent diagnostic purpose; and

(B) administratively and financially distinct from a health care facility or an office of private physicians or dentists;

(24) "intermediate care facility" means a nursing home that is not a skilled nursing facility;

(25) "intermediate care facility for the mentally retarded" means a facility, or a distinct part of a facility, licensed under AS 47.32, that is primarily for the diagnosis, treatment, or rehabilitation of the mentally retarded or persons with related conditions;

(26) "kidney dialysis center"

(A) means a treatment center;

(B) includes a free-standing hemodialysis unit that is devoted to the treatment of kidney disease;

(27) "member of the public who is substantially affected" means

(A) an applicant for a certificate of need, including an applicant whose application was reviewed comparatively with the application in question;

(B) a person who
(i) resides and regularly uses a health care facility within the geographic area served or to be served by the health care services that would be provided under the certificate of need; and

(ii) testified at a public hearing held or who submitted written comments on the application in question;

(C) a health care facility
(i) that is located in the geographic area where the health care services would be provided under the certificate of need; and

(ii) who testified at a public hearing held or who submitted written comments on the application in question; or

(D) a third-party payor that
(i) reimburses a health care facility for services in the service area where the health care services would be provided under the certificate of need; and

(ii) testified at a public hearing held or submitted written comments on the application in question;

(28) "nursing facility"

(A) has the meaning given in AS 18.20.390;

(B) includes a skilled nursing facility and an intermediate care facility;

(29) "originating application" means a new certificate of need application submitted to the department proposing to provide an activity in a service area for which on the date of submittal there is no other pending certificate of need application;

(30) "person" includes

(A) the entities specified in AS 01.10.060(8);

(B) a health maintenance organization;

(C) a foundation;

(D) a trust;

(E) an estate;

(F) a political subdivision or instrumentality of the state, including a municipal corporation; and

(G) any other legal entity recognized by the state;

(31) "psychiatric hospital" means a hospital or part of a hospital that is primarily for the diagnosis and treatment of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders;

(32) "residential psychiatric treatment center" has the meaning given in AS 18.07.111;

(33) "routine maintenance"

(A) means
(i) the regular, customary, ordinary, or usual upkeep of property and equipment to keep the property or equipment in safe working condition or in good repair;

(ii) maintenance that is required to meet life and safety code standards under 13 AAC 50; or

(iii) the remodeling of space that is fully depreciated and for which the services provided have not changed;

(B) does not include
(i) a repair or service if the repair or service substantially adds to the technological capability or capacity of property or equipment; or

(ii) any part of a project that adds square footage to the total size of the facility;

(34) "routine replacement of equipment"

(A) means the regular, customary, ordinary, or usual replacement of worn out, broken, or obsolete equipment;

(B) does not include replacement of medical equipment that increases the technological capacity of the equipment or facility so long as the increase does not result in a change in the scope of services that are being provided;

(35) "skilled nursing facility" means a nursing facility as defined in 42 U.S.C. 1395i-3(a);

(36) "service area" means the geographic area to be served by the proposed activity, including the community where the proposed activity will be located.

Authority:AS 18.07.031

AS 18.07.101

AS 18.07.111

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