Rhode Island General Laws 23-15-5. Expeditious review
(a) Any person who proposes to offer or develop new institutional health services or new healthcare equipment for documented emergency needs; or for the purpose of eliminating or preventing documented fire or safety hazards affecting the lives and health of patients or staff; or for compliance with accreditation standards required for receipt of federal or state reimbursement; or for any other purpose that the state agency may specify in rules and regulations, may apply for an expeditious review. The state agency may exercise its discretion in recommending approvals through an expeditious review, except that no new institutional health service or new healthcare equipment may be approved through the expeditious review if provision of the new institutional health service or new healthcare equipment is contra-indicated by the state health plan as may be formulated by the state agency. Specific procedures for the conduct of expeditious reviews shall be promulgated in rules and regulations adopted by the state agency with the advice of the health services council.
Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 23-15-5
- Health services: means organized program components for preventive, assessment, maintenance, diagnostic, treatment, and rehabilitative services provided in a healthcare facility. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-15-2
- Health services council: means the advisory body to the Rhode Island state department of health established in accordance with chapter 17 of this title, appointed and empowered as provided to serve as the advisory body to the state agency in its review functions under this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-15-2
- Healthcare facility: means any institutional health-service provider, facility or institution, place, building, agency, or portion of them, whether a partnership or corporation, whether public or private, whether organized for profit or not, used, operated, or engaged in providing healthcare services that are limited to hospitals, nursing facilities, home nursing-care provider, home-care provider, hospice provider, inpatient rehabilitation centers (including drug and/or alcohol abuse treatment centers), freestanding emergency-care facilities as defined in § 23-17-2, certain facilities providing surgical treatment to patients not requiring hospitalization (surgi-centers, multi-practice, physician ambulatory-surgery centers and multi-practice, podiatry ambulatory-surgery centers) and facilities providing inpatient hospice care. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-15-2
- in writing: include printing, engraving, lithographing, and photo-lithographing, and all other representations of words in letters of the usual form. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-16
- New healthcare equipment: means any single piece of medical equipment (and any components that constitute operational components of the piece of medical equipment) proposed to be utilized in conjunction with the provision of services to patients or the public, the capital costs of which would exceed two million two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($2,250,000); provided, however, that the state agency shall exempt from review any application that proposes one-for-one equipment replacement as defined in regulation. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-15-2
- Person: means any individual, trust or estate, partnership, corporation (including associations, joint stock companies, and insurance companies), state or political subdivision, or instrumentality of a state. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-15-2
- State agency: means the Rhode Island state department of health. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-15-2
- To offer: means to hold oneself out as capable of providing, or as having the means for the provision of, specified health services or healthcare equipment. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-15-2
(b) The decision of the state agency not to conduct an expeditious review shall be reconsidered upon a written petition to the state agency, and the state agency shall be required to respond to the written petition within ten (10) days stating whether expeditious review is granted. If the request for reconsideration is denied, the state agency shall state the reasons in writing why the expeditious request had been denied.
(c) The decision of the state agency in connection with an expeditious review shall be rendered within thirty (30) days after the commencement of said review.
(d) Any healthcare facility that provides a service performed in another state and that is not performed in the state of Rhode Island, or such service is performed in the state on a very limited basis, shall be granted expeditious review upon request under this section, provided that such service, among other things, has a clear effect on the timeliness, access, or quality of care and is able to meet licensing standards.