Sec. 19a-653. (Formerly Sec. 19a-167j). Failure to file data or information. Civil penalty. Request for determination of a certificate of need requirement. Notice. Extension. Hearing. Appeal. Deductio
Sec. 19a-653. (Formerly Sec. 19a-167j). Failure to file data or information.
Civil penalty. Request for determination of a certificate of need requirement. Notice. Extension. Hearing. Appeal. Deduction from Medicaid payments. (a)(1) Any
person or health care facility or institution that owns, operates or is seeking to acquire
major medical equipment costing over three million dollars, or scanning equipment,
cineangiography equipment, a linear accelerator or other similar equipment utilizing
technology that is developed or introduced into the state on or after October 1, 2005,
or any person or health care facility or institution that is required to file data or information under any public or special act or under this chapter or sections 19a-486 to 19a-486h, inclusive, or any regulation adopted or order issued under this chapter or said
sections, which fails to so file within prescribed time periods, shall be subject to a civil
penalty of up to one thousand dollars a day for each day such information is missing,
incomplete or inaccurate. Any civil penalty authorized by this section shall be imposed
by the Office of Health Care Access in accordance with subsections (b) to (e), inclusive,
of this section.
(2) If a person or health care facility or institution is unsure whether a certificate of
need is required under section 19a-638 or section 19a-639, or under both sections, it
shall send a letter to the office describing the project and requesting that the office make
such a determination. A person making a request for a determination as to whether a
certificate of need, waiver or exemption is required shall provide the office with any
information the office requests as part of its determination process.
(b) If the office has reason to believe that a violation has occurred for which a civil
penalty is authorized by subsection (a) of this section, it shall notify the person or health
care facility or institution by first-class mail or personal service. The notice shall include:
(1) A reference to the sections of the statute or regulation involved; (2) a short and plain
statement of the matters asserted or charged; (3) a statement of the amount of the civil
penalty or penalties to be imposed; (4) the initial date of the imposition of the penalty;
and (5) a statement of the party's right to a hearing.
(c) The person or health care facility or institution to whom the notice is addressed
shall have fifteen business days from the date of mailing of the notice to make written
application to the office to request (1) a hearing to contest the imposition of the penalty,
or (2) an extension of time to file the required data. A failure to make a timely request
for a hearing or an extension of time to file the required data or a denial of a request for
an extension of time shall result in a final order for the imposition of the penalty. All
hearings under this section shall be conducted pursuant to sections 4-176e to 4-184,
inclusive. The office may grant an extension of time for filing the required data or
mitigate or waive the penalty upon such terms and conditions as, in its discretion, it
deems proper or necessary upon consideration of any extenuating factors or circumstances.
(d) A final order of the office assessing a civil penalty shall be subject to appeal as
set forth in section 4-183 after a hearing before the office pursuant to subsection (c) of
this section, except that any such appeal shall be taken to the superior court for the
judicial district of New Britain. Such final order shall not be subject to appeal under
any other provision of the general statutes. No challenge to any such final order shall
be allowed as to any issue which could have been raised by an appeal of an earlier order,
denial or other final decision by the office.
(e) If any person or health care facility or institution fails to pay any civil penalty
under this section, after the assessment of such penalty has become final the amount of
such penalty may be deducted from payments to such person or health care facility or
institution from the Medicaid account.
(P.A. 88-230, S. 1, 12; P.A. 89-371, S. 28, 31; P.A. 90-98, S. 1, 2; P.A. 93-142, S. 4, 7, 8; May 25 Sp. Sess. P.A. 94-1, S. 120, 130; P.A. 95-160, S. 55, 69; 95-220, S. 4-6; 95-257, S. 39, 58; P.A. 96-139, S. 12, 13; P.A. 98-150, S. 8, 17;
P.A. 99-172, S. 5, 7; 99-215, S. 24, 29; P.A. 05-151, S. 10; P.A. 06-28, S. 6.)
History: May 25 Sp. Sess. P.A. 94-1 removed obsolete language and added reference to Secs. 19a-170 to 19a-170g,
inclusive, in Subsec. (a), effective July 1, 1994 (Revisor's note: The last sentence of Subsec. (a) which reads "Any civil
penalty authorized by this section shall be imposed by the Commission on Hospitals and Health Care in accordance with
subsection (b) of this section." was omitted from the amendment to Subsec. (a) but in the absence of any indication that
the General Assembly intended to delete this sentence it has been treated as a clerical error and reinstated by the Revisors);
P.A. 95-160 amended Subsec. (a) to add health care providers who own, operate, or seek to acquire CAT scan or medical
imaging equipment, increase the penalty from $250 to $1,000, made technical changes, broadened application of section
to all of chapter 368c and 368z, deleted Subsecs. (b) to (d) and replaced them with new (b) to (e) re procedure for application
of penalty, effective June 1, 1995 (Revisor's note: P.A. 88-230, 90-98, 93-142 and 95-220 authorized substitution of
"judicial district of Hartford" for "judicial district of Hartford-New Britain" in 1995 public and special acts, effective
September 1, 1998); P.A. 95-257 replaced Commission on Hospitals and Health Care with Office of Health Care Access,
effective July 1, 1995; P.A. 96-139 changed effective date of P.A. 95-160 but without affecting this section; Sec. 19a-167j
transferred to Sec. 19a-653 in 1997; P.A. 98-150 amended Subsec. (a) by deleting "health care facility or institution"
concerning owning, operating or seeking to acquire equipment and adding it concerning filing data, added "or information
under any public or special act", adding linear accelerators and adding Subdiv. (2) re request as to whether certificate of
need is required and made technical changes, effective June 5, 1998; P.A. 99-172 added reference to "person" in Subsecs.
(a), (c) and (e) and made technical changes in Subsecs. (b), (c) and (e), effective June 23, 1999; P.A. 99-215 replaced
"judicial district of Hartford" with "judicial district of New Britain" in Subsec. (d), effective June 29, 1999; P.A. 05-151
amended Subsec. (a) by extending the civil penalty for failure to file certificate of need data or information with office to
non-profit hospitals seeking to become for-profit hospitals and to "any person or health care facility or institution", rather
than "any health care provider", and by broadening the type of major medical and scanning equipment that triggers the
filing requirement, amended Subsec. (c) by extending the deadline for requesting a public hearing to contest the penalty
from 10 calendar days to 15 business days after office mails the notice of violation and penalty to be imposed, and made
conforming changes in Subsecs. (b), (c) and (e); P.A. 06-28 amended Subsec. (a)(1) by increasing the major medical
equipment acquisition threshold from $400,000 to $3,000,000, effective July 1, 2006.
Annotations to former section 19a-167j:
Cited. 223 C. 450. Cited. 238 C. 216.