Georgia Hospitals’ Effort to Stop New Emergency Facility Back on

Three Georgia health systems won a second chance to stop development of a new free-standing emergency department after a state appeals court held that the developer improperly won a certificate of need.

The state’s Commissioner of Community Health exceeded the scope of his statutory authority when he granted the CON after overruling a hearing officer’s denial of Coliseum Medical Center LLC’s application to build the facility in Central Georgia’s Houston County, the Georgia Court of Appeals said.

By law, the commissioner had to find that the officer’s fact findings weren’t supported by competent substantial evidence, and he didn’t do so, ...