An Act To Exempt Certain Capital Expenditures from the Maine Certificate of Need Act of 2002
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 22 MRSA §329, sub-§3, as amended by PL 2011, c. 424, Pt. A, §4 and affected by Pt. E, §1, is further amended to read:
3. Capital expenditures. Except as provided in subsection 6, the obligation by or on behalf of a new or existing health care facility of any capital expenditure of $10,000,000 or more. Capital expenditures in the case of a natural disaster, major accident or equipment failure or for replacement equipment that is not major medical equipment as defined in section 328, subsection 16 or for parking lots and garages, information and communications systems or physician office space or projects directed solely at reducing energy costs through energy efficiency, renewable energy technology or smart grid technology and that have been certified as likely to be cost-effective by the Efficiency Maine Trust pursuant to Title 35-A, section 10122 do not require a certificate of need. Capital expenditures that do not result in a net increase in MaineCare costs do not require a certificate of need. Beginning January 1, 2013 and annually thereafter, the threshold amount for review must be updated by the commissioner to reflect the change in the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index medical care services index, with an effective date of January 1st each year;
summary
This bill provides that capital expenditures that result in no net increase in MaineCare costs do not require a certificate of need.