                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

BED CAPACITY AND LICENSURE IN HOSPITALS DESIGNATED AS CRITICAL ACCESS HOSPITALS;
DESIGNATION AS RURAL HOSPITAL (§ 32.1-125.3)

A. Any medical care facility licensed as a hospital pursuant to this article
that (i) has been certified, as provided in &#xA7; 32.1-122.07, as a critical
access hospital by the Commissioner of Health in compliance with the
certification regulations promulgated by the Health Care Financing
Administration pursuant to Title XVIII of the Social Security Act, as amended,
and (ii) has, as a result of the critical access certification, been required to
reduce its licensed bed capacity to conform to the critical access certification
requirement shall, upon termination of its critical access hospital
certification, be licensed to operate at the licensed bed capacity in existence
prior to the critical access hospital certification without being required to
apply for and obtain a certificate of public need for such bed capacity in
accordance with Article 1.1 (&#xA7; 32.1-102.1 et seq.) of Chapter 4 of this
title.

B. Any medical care facility licensed as a hospital shall be considered a rural
hospital on and after September 30, 2004, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. &#xA7; 1395ww
(d)(8)(E)(ii)(II), if (i) the hospital is located in an area defined as rural by
federal statute or regulation; (ii) the Board of Health defines, in regulation,
the area in which the hospital is located as a rural health area or the hospital
as a rural hospital; or (iii) the hospital was designated, prior to October 1,
2004, as a Medicare-dependent small rural health hospital, as defined in 42
U.S.C. &#xA7; 1395ww (d)(5)(G)(iv).

HISTORY: 2001, c. 579; 2006, c. 378.