Md. Code, Health - General § 19-119

(a) The Commission shall develop and adopt an institution-specific plan to guide possible capacity reduction.

(b) The institution-specific plan shall address:

(1) Accurate bed count data for licensed beds and staffed and operated beds;

(2) Cost data associated with all hospital beds and associated services on a hospital-specific basis;

(3) Migration patterns and current and future projected population data;

(4) Accessibility and availability of beds;

(5) Quality of care;

(6) Current health care needs, as well as growth trends for such needs, for the area served by each hospital;

(7) Hospitals in high growth areas; and

(8) Utilization.

(c) In the development of the institution-specific plan the Commission shall give priority to the conversion of acute capacity to alternative uses where appropriate.

(d) (1) The Commission shall use the institution-specific plan in reviewing certificate of need applications for conversion, expansion, consolidation, or introduction of hospital services in conjunction with the State health plan.

(2) If there is a conflict between the State health plan and any rule or regulation adopted by the Commission in accordance with Title 10, Subtitle 1 of the State Government Article to implement an institution-specific plan that is developed for identifying any excess capacity in beds and services, the provisions of whichever plan that is most recently adopted shall control.

(3) Immediately upon adoption of the institution-specific plan the Commission shall begin the process of incorporating the institution-specific plan into the State health plan and shall complete the incorporation within 12 months.

(4) A State health plan developed or adopted after the incorporation of the institution-specific plan into the State health plan shall include the criteria in subsection (b) of this section in addition to the criteria in § 19-118 of this subtitle.