On January 18, 2011, the day after taking office, Governor Robert Bentley issued Executive Order Number 3, imposing a moratorium, until further notice, on (i) the acceptance and/or processing of any Certificate of Need (CON) applications by the State Health Planning and Development Agency (SHPDA), and SHPDA administrative law judge or the CON Review Board; and (ii) any adoption, re-adoption, adjustments, revisions or amendments to the State Health Plan by the Statewide Health Coordinating Council (SHCC) or SHPDA. This resulted in the immediate postponement of the meetings scheduled for January 19th of the CON Review Board and the SHCC Hospital Committee.

It should be noted that a number of matters traditionally governed by SHPDA are not covered by the moratorium imposed by Governor Bentley’s Executive Order. Among these are the following:

• Notices of changes of ownership, submitted pursuant to Alabama Administrative Code Section 410-1-7-.04, are still permitted
• Requests for extensions of previously granted CONs, which are reviewable by the Executive Director of SHPDA under Alabama Administrative Code Section 410-1-11-.06, are not prohibited by the moratorium
• Notices of intent to acquire major medical equipment, as described in Alabama Administrative Code Section 410-1-7-.03, should not be prohibited by the moratorium
• Certain letters requesting reviewability determinations under Alabama Administrative Code Section 410-1-7-.02 may be able to be processed by the Agency, pending no objection by an interested party
• Letters of intent to file a CON application should be accepted by the Agency, to at least hold a place in line to file the respective CON application. Naturally, the filing of the CON application itself is prohibited by the moratorium.

*This newsletter is for information purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. This information is not intended to create, and receipt of it does not constitute a lawyer-client relationship. For more information or an explanation about the matters discussed in this newsletter, please contact any of the attorneys in our Health Care practice group.