St. Dominic-Madison County Med. Ctr. V. Madison County Med. Ctr.
| Docket Number: | 2004-SA-01240-SCT Linked Case(s): 2004-SA-01240-SCT ; 2004-SA-01240-SCT |
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| Supreme Court: | Opinion Link Opinion Date: 09-08-2005 Opinion Author: Easley, J. Holding: Affirmed |
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| Additional Case Information: |
Topic: Certificate of need - New hospital - Relocation Judge(s) Concurring: Smith, C.J., Waller and Cobb, P.JJ., Carlson, Dickinson and Randolph, JJ. Non Participating Judge(s): Diaz, J. Dissenting Author : Graves, J. |
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| Trial Court: |
Date of Trial Judgment: 05-28-2004 Appealed from: Hinds County Chancery Court Judge: Stuart Robinson Case Number: G-2004-248 |
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| Note: | no link | |
| Party Name: | Attorney Name: | |||
| Appellant: | St. Dominic-Madison County Medical Center, St. Dominic-Jackson Memorial Hospital and Mississippi State Department of Health |
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| Appellee: | Madison County Medical Center |
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Synopsis provided by:  If you are interested in subscribing to the weekly synopses of all Mississippi Supreme Court and Court of Appeals hand downs please contact Tammy Upton in the MLI Press office. |
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| Topic: | Certificate of need - New hospital - Relocation |
| Summary of the Facts: | In June 2002, St. Dominic-Jackson Memorial Hospital filed a certificate of need application with the Mississippi State Department of Health requesting approval for a new 100 bed hospital in Madison County. In September 2002, St. Dominic submitted an amended application to the Department. The amended application replaced the original application submitted in June 2002. This amended application sought to relocate 100 existing beds from its 571 licensed beds in Jackson to Madison County. Madison County Medical Center opposed St. Dominic’s amended CON application and requested a public hearing on the matter. The Department granted St. Dominic’s amended CON application. However, the Department only permitted 50 beds at the Madison facility instead of the 100 beds requested in St. Dominic’s amended application. MCMC appealed, and the chancery court reversed the Department’s final order. St. Dominic and the Department appeal. |
| Summary of Opinion Analysis: | St. Dominic-Jackson Mem’l Hosp. v. Mississippi State Dep’t of Health, 728 So.2d 81, 83 (Miss. 1998), is applicable and controlling in this case. In keeping with the holding of the St. Dominic case, the chancellor correctly ruled that the amended CON application sought a new hospital and not a relocation. Since St. Dominic indicated that it could not meet the need requirement for a new hospital, the chancellor correctly ruled that remand of the case would be useless in light of St. Dominic’s inability to meet the proper standard of need. St. Dominic argues that its amended application was a plan to relocate 100 licensed acute care beds from Hinds County to Madison County. The Department also viewed the application as a relocation and applied the criteria from the 2003 State Health Plan which concern the replacement/relocation of a health care facility or portion thereof. In addition, St. Dominic argues that the appropriate need analysis in this instance is for a relocation and not an analysis based upon a new hospital. Therefore, St. Dominic contends that it neither ignored the need analysis nor applied a reduced standard of need for a relocation than is provided by the State Health Plan. MCMC argues that St. Dominic’s amended application is not a relocation application but a new hospital application and that the Department should have reviewed the application pursuant to the criteria and standards for new hospitals in counties with an existing hospital rather than as a relocation. The St. Dominic case is applicable to this case. The facts in both the cases concern an existing hospital’s “relocation” of licensed but currently unused beds from one physical location to another. The chancery court properly applied the holding in the St. Dominic case to the facts and found that the proposed hospital was a new hospital rather than a relocation. The chancery court found that what the project actually was, was a new hospital. The appropriate criteria applicable for a new hospital are the “Criteria and Standards for the Establishment of a General Acute Care Hospital.” The chancery court properly noted remand would be futile since St. Dominic admitted that it could not meet the standard for a new hospital. |
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