ASSEMBLY, No. 453

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 1996 SESSION

By Assemblyman ROMA and Assemblywoman HECK

An Act concerning certificates of need and supplementing chapter 2H of Title 26 of the Revised Statutes.

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

    1. The requirement to obtain a certificate of need for the transfer of ownership interest in an acute care hospital pursuant to section 7 of P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-7) shall apply to a change of ownership as a result of a change in the membership of the corporation which owns the hospital, regardless of whether the corporation is established as a for-profit or nonprofit corporation, and regardless of whether there has been a purchase or sale of assets.

    2. This act shall take effect immediately and be retroactive to July 1, 1991.

STATEMENT

    This bill requires that the Department of Health issue a certificate of need (CN) prior to the transfer of ownership of an acute care hospital through a change in the membership of the corporation which owns the hospital, regardless of whether the corporation is for-profit or nonprofit in nature, and regardless of whether there has been a purchase or sale of assets. Under section 19 of P.L.1992, c.160 (C.26:2H-7a), the requirement for a CN for the transfer of ownership interest in a health care facility applies only to acute care hospitals. Currently, the regulations governing the CN program (at N.J.A.C.8:33-3.3(g)3) exempt from the CN requirement a "change in the membership of a nonprofit corporation, where the members are individuals or nonprofit corporations, and there is no purchase or sale of assets."

    The provisions of this bill are retroactive to July 1, 1991.

Requires certificate of need for transfer of ownership interest in a hospital by change in membership of corporation.