CLC of Biloxi, LLCv. Miss. Dept. of Health

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Miramar Lodge Nursing Home (Miramar) was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Miramar at the time was located in Pass Christian, Harrison County, Mississippi. On January 5, 2010, Harrison County Properties, LLC, d/b/a Gulfport Care Center (GCC,) filed a certificate of need (CON) application with the Mississippi Department of Health (DOH). GCC requested the CON for the construction of a replacement facility and relocation of ninety nursing-home beds from Miramar to an area located in central Harrison County, approximately twenty miles from Pass Christian. Sixty of Miramar’s 180 beds were relocated in 2006 to Boyington Health Care Facility in Gulfport, Harrison County, Mississippi. The remaining thirty Miramar beds were the subject of a separate CON application, which proposed to relocate those thirty beds to Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Several nursing homes from Harrison County and Jackson County contested GCC’s CON application and requested a public hearing. On August 26, 2010, the State Health Officer (SHO), concurring with the findings, conclusions, and recommendations of the DOH staff and the hearing officer, granted GCC a CON for the construction of a ninety-bed replacement nursing home in Harrison County. The contestants appealed to the Hinds County Chancery Court, which affirmed the SHO’s decision. The contestants the appealed to the Supreme Court arguing that: 1) DOH failed to comply with Mississippi law in granting the CON to GCC, as "GCC did not act in sufficient time to re-open Miramar under CON law"; 2) no actual need was demonstrated for the project; 3) no economic viability was demonstrated for the project; and 4) DOH failed to follow its own rules and regulations in granting the CON. Having found that the SHO’s decision to grant GCC a CON for the construction of a ninety-bed replacement nursing home in Harrison County is supported by substantial evidence, the Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Hinds County Chancery Court. View "CLC of Biloxi, LLCv. Miss. Dept. of Health" on Justia Law