Section 1200-38-01-.01 - PURPOSE AND DEFINITIONSThe rules in this chapter implement the law relative to Cooperative Agreements and the granting of Certificates of Public Advantage pursuant to the Hospital Cooperation Act of 1993, T.C.A. §§ 68-11-1301 through 68-11-1309.
Pursuant to the Act, the Department is responsible for active state supervision to protect the public interest and to assure that the reduction in competition of health care and related services continues to be outweighed by clear and convincing evidence of the likely benefits of the Cooperative Agreement, including but not limited to improvements to population health, access to services and economic advantages to the public. The COPA will be denied or terminated if the likely benefits of the Cooperative Agreement fail to outweigh any disadvantages attributable to a potential reduction in competition resulting from the Cooperative Agreement by clear and convincing evidence.
(1) "Advisory Group" means the group of stakeholders from Applicants geographic service area, as specified in the Application, appointed by the Commissioner, in consultation with appropriate constituencies and government agencies, to recommend Measures to be considered for inclusion in an Index to objectively track Public Advantage of a single Cooperative Agreement.(2) "Applicant" means the parties to a Cooperative Agreement who submit an Application to the Department in accordance with 1200-38-01.02.(3) "Application" means the written materials submitted to the Department in accordance with 1200-38-01.02, by entities who desire to apply for a Certificate of Public Advantage.(4) "Attorney General" means the Attorney General and Reporter for the State of Tennessee.(5) "Certificate of Public Advantage ("COPA" or the "Certificate")" means the written approval by the Department which governs the Cooperative Agreement.(6) "Certificate Holder" means the entity holding the Certificate of Public Advantage issued by the Department.(7) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of the Department of Health.(8) "Cooperative Agreement" means an agreement among two (2) or more hospitals for the consolidation by merger or other combination of assets, offering, provision, operation, planning, funding, pricing, contracting, utilization review or management of health services or for the sharing, allocation or referral of patients, personnel, instructional programs, support services and facilities or medical, diagnostic or laboratory facilities or procedures or other services traditionally offered by hospitals, including any parent or subsidiary at the time the transaction occurs or at any time thereafter.(9) "Department" means the Department of Health.(10) "Hospital" means an institution required to be licensed as a hospital pursuant to § 68-11-201, or defined as a psychiatric hospital in § 68-11-102; or any parent of a hospital, hospital subsidiary or hospital affiliate that provides medical or medically-related diagnostic and laboratory services or engages in ancillary activities supporting those services.(11) "Independent Provider" means a licensed provider in private practice and not employed by any Applicant providing medical services to patients residing or working in the Applicants' geographic service area.(12) "Index" means a set of Measures used to objectively track the progress of a Cooperative Agreement over time to ensure Public Advantage. The components of the Index may be assigned differential weightings and modified from time to time as determined by the Department.(13) "Intervenor" means any hospital, physician, allied health professional, healthcare provider or other person furnishing goods or services to, or in competition with, hospitals, insurer, hospital service corporation, medical service corporation, hospital and medical services corporation, preferred provider organization, health maintenance organization or any employer or association that directly or indirectly provides health care benefits to its employees or members.(14) "Measure" means some number of factors or benchmarks, which may be binary, a range or continuous factors.(15) "Plan of Separation" means the written proposal submitted with an Application to return the parties to a Cooperative Agreement to a pre-consolidation state, which includes a plan for separation of any combined assets, offering, provision, operation, planning, funding, pricing, contracting, utilization review or management of health services or any combined sharing, allocation, or referral of patients, personnel, instructional programs, support services and facilities or medical, diagnostic or laboratory facilities or procedures or other services traditionally offered by hospitals, including any parent or subsidiary at the time the consolidation occurs or thereafter.(16) "Population" means the entirety of the human population residing or domiciled in the geographic service area set out in the proposed Cooperative Agreement unless otherwise defined.(17) Public Advantage" means the likely benefits accruing from a Cooperative Agreement which outweigh, by clear and convincing evidence, the likely disadvantages attributable to a reduction in competition likely to result from the Cooperative Agreement.Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1200-38-01-.01
Emergency rule filed July 14, 2015; effective through January 10, 2016. New rule filed October 6, 2015; effective January 4, 2016. Amendments filed December 10, 2018; effective 3/10/2019.Authority: T.C.A. §§ 68-11-1301 through 68-11-1309.