Top NC court throws out CON ruling in northeastern NC MRI dispute
The North Carolina Supreme Court has thrown out a lower court’s ruling in a certificate-of-need dispute in northeastern North Carolina.
The North Carolina Court of Appeals has rejected a legal complaint over which health care provider can add a new magnetic resonance imaging scanner to serve four northeastern counties.
The full 15-member state Court of Appeals will not rehear a case from western North Carolina involving a certificate-of-need dispute. The court announced that decision Wednesday, along with its decision to publish its original March opinion in the case.
A hospital involved in a certificate-of-need legal dispute is asking the full North Carolina Court of Appeals to rehear a case involving a proposed emergency department in Buncombe County. But a competitor and the state Department of Health and Human Services want the court to publish its original decision.
Mission Health is urging North Carolina’s second-highest court to publish a recent decision in a certificate-of-need dispute. Publication would give the decision authority as a legal precedent.
The North Carolina Court of Appeals has determined that state regulators should have held a public hearing before awarding a disputed certificate of need in 2022 for a new hospital emergency department in Buncombe County. Yet Tuesday's unanimous unpublished decision from the state’s second-highest court stopped short of ruling that the lack of a public hearing would force the state to drop the CON.
The outcome of a legal dispute over a new hospital emergency department in Buncombe County could depend on a state law requiring a public hearing. The state Appeals Court will decide in the months ahead whether the absence of a public hearing jeopardizes the certificate of need for a new Mission Health emergency department in Candler.
A Hendersonville hospital is asking the state Court of Appeals for permission to take part in upcoming arguments over a certificate-of-need dispute. The request follows the court’s recent decision to allow UNC Health to jump into the case.
Lawyers for UNC Health Care will explain their views about the state certificate-of-need law’s public hearing requirement on Feb. 20 at the state Appeals Court. The court issued an order Thursday giving UNC Health five minutes during oral arguments in the case Fletcher Hospital v. NC Department of Health and Human Services.
Lawyers for the UNC Health Care System hope to take part in oral arguments later this month in a certificate-of-need dispute at the state Appeals Court. The dispute does not involve any UNC Health facilities or equipment. Oral arguments are scheduled Feb. 22 in the case Fletcher Hospital Inc. v. NC Department of Health and Human Services.
A recent decision in a legal dispute from western North Carolina could shake up multiple cases involving state certificates of need. The decision prompted one of the state’s largest health care providers to file a friend-of-the-court brief Monday.
In a press conference Thursday, Senate Leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore announced that an agreement has been reached between the chambers to expand the federal Medicaid entitlement program in North Carolina.