Today at the Court of Appeals (6/6/12)

Today, a panel of the Court of Appeals (Hunter, Geer, Beasley) will hear the case of WakeMed v. North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

WakeMed and Rex Hospitals separately appeal from a final decision by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services as to a certificate of need review resulting from a need determination for three additional operating rooms in Wake County.  The three hospitals involved in the appeal--WakeMed, Rex, and Novant Health, Inc.--all sought a certificate of need to add three operating rooms at their facilities.  Novant was awarded the certificate of need.

In their respective briefs, Rex and Wakemed contend that the final agency decision erroneously approved the Novant application and denied the Rex and WakeMed applications.  Specifically, the appellants argue that the final agency decision erred in finding Novant's application conformed to the statutory criteria.  Rex claims that the final agency decision should not have determined that WakeMed's application conformed to the statutory criteria; WakeMed argues the same as to Rex.  Finally, each appellant asserts that its application should have been found to be comparatively superior to the others.

The record on appeal and briefs may be found here.