Certificate of public need; hospitals licensed by DBHDS psychiatric beds.

Certificate of public need; hospitals licensed by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services; psychiatric beds. Excludes from the list of medical care facilities for which a certificate of public need is required hospitals licensed as a provider by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. The bill excludes the following from the list of projects for which a certificate of public need is required for certain medical care facilities: (i) an increase or relocation of psychiatric beds licensed by the Department, (ii) the introduction of any psychiatric service when such medical care facility has not provided such service in the previous 12 months, and (iii) the conversion of beds to psychiatric beds. The bill also modifies the list of projects for which a certificate of public need is required for certain medical care facilities by requiring a certificate for the conversion of any psychiatric inpatient beds to nonpsychiatric inpatient beds. Under current law, a certificate is required for the conversion of a psychiatric bed to a nonpsychiatric bed only when the psychiatric bed was approved pursuant to a Request for Applications (RFA).