50-5-245. Department to license specialty hospitals -- standards -- rulemaking -- moratorium. (1) Subject to subsection (4), the department shall license specialty hospitals using the requirements for licensure of hospitals and the procedure provided for in parts 1 and 2 of this chapter.

(2) Prior to approving an application under this section, the department shall adopt rules that are necessary to implement and administer this section.

(3) Notwithstanding the requirements of subsection (1), the department may not accept an application or issue a license for a specialty hospital before July 1, 2009.

(4) A health care facility licensed by the department and in existence on May 8, 2007, may not change its licensure status in order to qualify for licensure as a specialty hospital unless the health care facility is licensed as a hospital and the hospital is not subject to the provisions of 50-5-246 and subsections (5) through (9) of this section.

(5) A specialty hospital meets the 24-hour emergency care requirements for a hospital, as defined in 50-5-101, if it has an agreement with a hospital in the area served by the specialty hospital stating that the hospital will provide 24-hour emergency care to patients of the specialty hospital.

(6) A specialty hospital applying for a license must have:

(a) a financial assistance policy meeting the provisions of 50-5-121 if the hospital will be operating as a nonprofit health care facility or meeting the provisions of subsection (9) of this section, if applicable; and

(b) a joint venture relationship with a hospital; or

(c) a signed statement from a hospital operating as a nonprofit health care facility in the community acknowledging that the hospital declined a bona fide, good faith opportunity to participate in a joint venture with the applicant.

(7) A specialty hospital owned by physicians and proposed as a joint venture with a hospital operating as a nonprofit health care facility in the community may be licensed if:

(a) the majority of partnering physicians hold active privileges with the joint venture hospital; and

(b) the partnering hospital holds an ownership interest of at least 50%.

(8) This section does not prohibit physicians who are partners in a specialty hospital that is proposed as a joint venture from managing the specialty hospital.

(9) The financial assistance policy for a specialty hospital applying as a joint venture with a hospital operating as a nonprofit health care facility in the community must be the same as the policy used by the hospital.