South Carolina              
Administrative Law Court
Edgar A. Brown building 1205 Pendleton St., Suite 224 Columbia, SC 29201 Voice: (803) 734-0550

SC Administrative Law Court Decisions

CAPTION:
NHC HealthCare Greenwood vs. SCDHEC et al.

AGENCY:
South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control

PARTIES:
Petitioner:
NHC HealthCare Greenwood

Respondent:
South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, and Self Memorial Hospital, Greenwood, South Carolina
 
DOCKET NUMBER:
97-ALJ-07-0099-CC

APPEARANCES:
SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF
HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL
By: s/Leon B. Frishman
Its: Dir., Health Fac. & Services Dev.
Ms. Nancy S. Layman
Office of General Counsel
South Carolina Department of
Health and Environment Department
2600 Bull Street
Columbia, South Carolina 29201
Its Attorney

SELF MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
s/J. L. Dozier, Jr.
Its: President and Chief Executive Officer
and s/Sinkler & Boyd, P.A. by Steve A. Matthews
Sinkler & Boyd, P.A.
P.O. Box 11889
Columbia, South Carolina 29211-1889
Its Attorney

NHC HEALTHCARE GREENWOOD
Its: Assistant Vice President
and 5/30/97 s/ M. Elizabeth Crum
McNair Law Firm, P.A.
1301 Gervais Street
Columbia, South Carolina 29201
Its Attorney
 

ORDERS:

CONSENT ORDER

The two contested case hearings referenced above are before this Court on appeals of certificates of need that were granted in each of the two proceedings by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control ("SCDHEC").



In Docket No. 97-ALJ-07-0099-CC, Self Memorial Hospital ("SMH") requested a certificate of need for the conversion of thirty-eight (38) of its acute care hospital beds to thirty-eight (38) nursing home beds to be used for sub-acute or transitional care. SCDHEC approved the certificate of need. NHC HealthCare Greenwood ("NHC") has appealed that approval and has requested a contested case hearing in the Administrative Law Judge Division.

In Docket No. 97-ALJ-07-0162-CC, NHC requested a certificate of need for the construction of 12,720 additional square feet to include twenty (20) replacement nursing home beds, therapy and ancillary space for a total license capacity to remain at one-hundred fifty-two (152) nursing home beds. SCDHEC approved the certificate of need. SMH has appealed that approval and has requested a contested case hearing in the Administrative Law Judge Division.

The parties to each of the two contested cases have advised the Court that they have reached an agreement for the settlement of the contested issues in these cases, the terms of which are set out below. Following a telephone conference in which the attorneys for each party in these cases participated, and upon review of the proposed settlement, this Court finds that the terms of the proposed settlement are in the public interest and are permissible under the governing statutes and regulations of the State of South Carolina, including applicable regulations of SCDHEC.

Therefore, this Court finds that the following matters have been agreed to by all parties and orders the same.

1. The appeal and request for a contested hearing in Docket No. 97-ALJ-07-0162-CC is hereby dismissed with prejudice and the decision of SCDHEC granting a certificate of need for the construction of 12,720 additional square feet to include 20 replacement nursing home

beds, therapy and ancillary space for a total license capacity to remain at 152 nursing home beds, is affirmed.

2. The decision of SCDHEC in Docket No. 97-ALJ-07-0099-CC approving a certificate of need for the conversion of 38 general acute care beds of SMH to 38 hospital based nursing home beds is amended by agreement of the parties and the consent of this Court. SMH will submit by letter to SCDHEC a request for modification of its application for a Certificate of Need. SCDHEC will, within fifteen (15) days of the receipt of such letter, send written confirmation to SMH that the modification does not constitute a significant change that would

require re-application pursuant to S.C. Code Ann. Regs. 61-15 §310. Thereafter, SCDHEC is ordered to issue, not later than ten (10) days after SCDHEC sends such confirming letter, a Certificate of Need in this Docket, for the conversion of 27 general acute care beds to 27 hospital based nursing home beds, for a total capacity of 334 general acute care beds (medical/surgical, obstetrics, pediatrics, and ICU/CCU), 24 substance abuse beds, 36 psychiatric beds, and 27 hospital based nursing home beds.

3. SMH agrees that it will not make application for the conversion of any of its additional general acute care beds to hospital based nursing home beds nor will SMH make application for any new nursing home bed documented as needed for Greenwood County in the applicable annual State Health Plan for a period of five years from the date of this Order. In the event, however, that SCDHEC creates a new separate hospital based bed licensure category for sub-acute or transitional care beds, distinct from hospital based nursing home beds, nothing in this Order shall preclude SMH from making application for the conversion of its general acute care beds to such separately licensed sub-acute or transitional care beds.

4. In the event that SCDHEC undertakes consideration of regulatory revisions and revisions to the State Health Plan to create a separate bed category of, and separate licensing procedure for, sub-acute or transitional care beds, as distinct from hospital based nursing home beds, neither SMH nor NHC will object to the creation of such a new category of beds and separate licensing procedure. Nothing in this Order, however, shall be construed to require SCDHEC to consider or create a separate bed category of, and separate licensing procedure for, sub-acute or transitional care beds, as distinct from hospital based nursing home beds.

5. Representatives of each of SMH and NHC agree to confer in good faith in person for the purpose of discussing their ongoing relationship as providers of healthcare services in Greenwood County and in an attempt to insure that the course of the proceedings in these two contested cases has not and will not negatively affect that ongoing relationship.







6. Both Self and NHC agree that in the event either of them breaches the terms of this Consent Order and one of them is required to enforce the terms hereof, the party seeking enforcement shall, if successful, be entitled to reasonable attorneys fees and costs.

AND IT IS SO ORDERED THIS 11th DAY OF JUNE, 1997.



s/Stephen P. Bates

Administrative Law Judge


Brown Bldg.

 

 

 

 

 

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