59C-1.012. Administrative Hearing Procedures

(1) Administrative Hearings shall be conducted pursuant to the timeframes and conditions specified in Section 408.039(5), F.S. A request for an Administrative Hearing shall be filed with the Agency within 21 days after publication of the Notice of Intent in the F.A.R. by the Agency. The failure of a noticed intended denied applicant to timely file a proper request for Administrative Hearing challenging the denial of its application shall result in the denial becoming final Agency action with respect to such applicant, and the application being severed from the remainder of the batch.

(2) If a valid request for Administrative Hearing is timely filed challenging the noticed intended award of any Certificate of Need application in the batch, that challenged granted applicant shall have ten days from the date the notice of litigation is published in the Florida Administrative Register to file a petition challenging any or all other cobatched applications.

(a) If no valid request for Administrative Hearing is timely filed challenging the noticed intended award of a Certificate of Need to an applicant, there is no pending challenge to the applicable published Fixed Need Pool projection, and there has been no petition filed pursuant to subsection (2), the noticed intended granted application shall be severed from the rest of the batch and become final Agency action with respect to such application. If there are pending challenges to the applicable published Fixed Need Pool projection, no noticed intended granted application can be severed from the batch and become final Agency Action, unless the application is withdrawn.

(b) If all requests for Administrative Hearings challenging a noticed intended award of a CON, and all challenges to the relevant published Fixed Need Pool projection, if any, are subsequently voluntarily dismissed, the unchallenged noticed intended granted application shall be severed from the remainder of the batch and the noticed intended award shall become final Agency action with respect to such applicant. If there remain any pending challenges to the applicable published Fixed Need Pool projection, no noticed intended granted application can be severed from the batch and become final Agency Action, unless the application is withdrawn.

(c) For purposes of comparative hearing on any remaining applications in the batch, the beds or services awarded to unchallenged noticed intended granted applications in the batch which have become final Agency Action shall automatically be subtracted from the unchallenged numeric Fixed Need Pool projection applicable to the batch, even if the projection is zero, and it shall be conclusively presumed that the award of Beds or Services in the batch which have become final Agency action will become operative in the service area in accordance with the representations contained in the Certificate of Need application leading to approval.

(3) This rule is in effect for five years from this date.

Rulemaking Authority 408.034(8), 408.15(8) FS. Law Implemented 408.039(5), (6) FS. History–New 1-1-77, Amended 9-1-78, 6-5-79, 10-23-79, 4-25-80, Formerly 10-5.12, Amended 11-24-86, 11-17-87, Formerly 10-5.012, Amended 12-14-92, 4-21-10, 8-8-21.