By Matt Harvey, WV News
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WV News) — West Virginia’s Supreme Court, after hearing the state Health Care Authority do an about-face, appeared to signal Wednesday that Mon Health Stonewall Jackson Memorial Hospital officials won’t be able to build a new hospital near the I-79/U.S. 48/33 split in Lewis County without first getting a certificate of need.
On appeal before the court Wednesday: An Intermediate Court of Appeals decision upholding a West Virginia Health Care Authority ruling that would have allowed the construction of the 29-bed, $56 million hospital about 4.2 miles southeast of the hospital’s current location.
If the justices require the certificate of need, it could signal the end of the project. Or it could add millions of dollars to the project, as construction costs likely already have risen substantially while the case is on appeal, and would probably continue to go up as the certificate of need process went first to the Health Care Authority, then back to the Intermediate Court of Appeals and, finally, the state Supreme Court.
The justices heard Wednesday from Solicitor General Michael Williams, who said the Health Care Authority is acknowledging that its past unwritten rule not to require a certificate of need, or CON, for a complete hospital relocation in the same service area was wrong.
