A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT exempting ambulatory surgical facilities from certificate of need review.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 131E‑176 reads as rewritten:
"§ 131E‑176.  Definitions.
As used in this Article, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the following terms have the meanings specified:
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(2)	"Bed capacity" means space used exclusively for inpatient care at a health service facility, including space designed or remodeled for licensed inpatient beds even though temporarily not used for such purposes. The number of beds to be counted in any patient room shall be the maximum number for which adequate square footage is provided as established by rules of the Department except that single beds in single rooms are counted even if the room contains inadequate square footage. The term "bed capacity" also refers to the number of dialysis stations in kidney disease treatment centers, including freestanding dialysis units.
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(9a)	"Health service" means an organized, interrelated medical, diagnostic, therapeutic, rehabilitative activity, or any combination of these, that is integral to the prevention of disease or the clinical management of a sick, injured, or disabled person. "Health service" does not include administrative and other activities that are not integral to clinical management, or any activities performed at a facility that does not meet the definition of a health service facility.
(9b)	"Health service facility" means a hospital; long‑term care hospital; psychiatric facility; rehabilitation facility; nursing home facility; adult care home; kidney disease treatment center, including freestanding hemodialysis units; intermediate care facility for the mentally retarded; home health agency office; chemical dependency treatment facility; diagnostic center; or hospice office, hospice inpatient facility, or hospice residential care facility.
(16)	"New institutional health services" means any of the following:
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u.	The construction, development, establishment, increase in the number, or relocation of an operating room in a licensed health service facility, other than the relocation of an operating room within the same building or on the same grounds or to grounds not separated by more than a public right‑of‑way adjacent to the grounds where the operating room or gastrointestinal endoscopy room is currently located.
	
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SECTION 2.  G.S. 131E‑178(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	No person shall offer or develop a new institutional health service without first obtaining a certificate of need from the Department.

	
	
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SECTION 3.  G.S. 131E‑184(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a)	Except as provided in subsection (b), the Department shall exempt from certificate of need review a new institutional health service if it receives prior written notice from the entity proposing the new institutional health service, which notice includes an explanation of why the new institutional health service is required, for any of the following:
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(10)	To develop, acquire, construct, expand in number, or replace an operating room or gastrointestinal endoscopy room for which a certificate of need was issued to an ambulatory surgical facility prior to October 1, 2019."
SECTION 4.  This act is effective October 1, 2019, and applies to activities occurring on or after that date.