Our attorneys have significant experience in assisting health care providers in navigating the complexities of the Certificate of Need (“CON”) requirements in both Tennessee and Alabama. Our CON practice team is composed of a group of attorneys in the Nashville office who focus on representing providers in CON matters before the Tennessee Health Services and Development Agency, and attorneys in other offices who assist clients with CON matters before the Alabama State Health Planning and Development Agency.
Our attorneys have significant experience in assisting health care providers in navigating the complexities of the Certificate of Need (“CON”) requirements in both Tennessee and Alabama. Our CON practice team is composed of a group of attorneys in the Nashville office who focus on representing providers in CON matters before the Tennessee Health Services and Development Agency, and attorneys in other offices who assist clients with CON matters before the Alabama State Health Planning and Development Agency.
While CON laws are unique to each state which has them, in all such states they may pose similar operational barriers for health care providers desiring to build, modify, renovate or relocate health care facilities, or initiate certain new health care services, or obtain medical equipment with costs which exceed certain thresholds. Because of these challenges, our certificate of need practice involves a cross-discipline team approach, involving transactional, regulatory, and government relations attorneys. Our attorneys monitor legislative, regulatory, judicial and administrative developments related to health planning. We regularly advise clients on how these policies affect their health care businesses by alerting them of the requirements and regulatory hurdles for their acquisitions, development, and expansions. We routinely represent providers seeking a CON before the state agencies, as well as those who are sometimes opposed to the granting of a CON. Our representation includes litigating certificate of need appeals in both the administrative and judicial forums. Additionally, we have helped providers develop and successfully pursue legislative changes to CON laws that have been critical to the continued operation and success of their businesses.
Members of the CON practice team also recently helped to spearhead the development of the AHLA publication “A Fifty State Survey of Certificate of Need and Licensure: Nursing Homes, Assisted Living, Home Health, and Hospice”. Our attorneys authored the Tennessee sections of the book, and served as an assistant editor, helping to coordinate the efforts of the respective state authors and edit chapters of the book.