West Virginia Hospital Doesn’t Need State’s Permission to Move

West Virginia’s health care department acted properly when it decided that a Lewis County hospital didn’t need prior approval before a less-than five mile move, a state appeals court said.

Lewis County’s Stonewall Jackson Memorial Hospital didn’t require a certificate of need before moving because it didn’t plan to spend enough money to trigger the requirement, the West Virginia Intermediate Court of Appeals said Thursday.

The decision has big ramifications for St. Joseph’s Hospital in nearby Buckhannon, W.Va., which opposed Stonewall Jackson’s original application for a certificate of need and its later contention that it didn’t need one.

Federal regulators ...