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Virginia Health Care Association | Virginia Center for Assisted Living

COPN Work Group Issues Final Report

COPN Work Group Issues Final Report

The Certificate of Public Need (COPN) Work Group has submitted its final report to the General Assembly. The final report is largely unchanged from the draft report released in November.

The work group made numerous recommendations, but did not call for repeal of COPN for nursing beds. Recommendations include:

  • Removing a series of services from the definition of “project,” thereby eliminating the need for COPN for them.
  • Improvements to the development of the State Medical Facilities Plan (SMFP) with the intent of streamlining the process for SMFP changes.
  • Requiring that COPN applications be “substantially complete” at the time of submission.
  • Better defining charity care related to conditioning of COPNs.
  • Automated/electronic tracking and posting of letters of intent to improve public access to them as soon as they are filed.

The full report is available here.

Some legislators have already signaled their intent to introduce COPN-related legislations during the 2016 session. VHCA will monitor any such legislation closely.