At its February 6 meeting, the State Hospital Review and Planning Council (SHRPC) gave contingent or conditional approval to these GNYHA member projects: Hudson Valley Hospital Center, certification of eight neonatal intermediate care beds; North Shore University Hospital at Forest Hills, certification of 10 additional neonatal beds; Southside Hospital, certification of five additional neonatal continuing care beds; NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC)-Coney Island Hospital, certification of 10 neonatal intermediate beds; HHC-Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center, approval for conversion of 15 bassinets to four neonatal intensive care unit beds, seven neonatal continuing care beds, and four neonatal intermediate beds; North Shore-Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Health System-LIJ Medical Center, establishment as active parent/co-operator and sole corporate member of LIJ Medical Center; North Shore-LIJ Health System-North Shore University Hospital at Glen Cove, renovation and expansion of the emergency department; Caledonian Community Health Center, establishment and construction of a diagnostic treatment center with its sole member and passive parent of Brooklyn Hospital Center; and New York Methodist Hospital, approval for certification of a cardiac surgery program.

RHCF Need Methodology: At the recent SHRPC joint Codes and Planning Committees meeting, the committees discussed a revised draft residential health care facility (RHCF) bed need methodology, which was approved at the SHRPC meeting. The new methodology requires that CON applicants exceed a 97% occupancy threshold in order to add new beds to any specific county. If a county has an occupancy rate less than 97%, the applicant must rebut the presumption that there is no need for new beds based on local factors not considered in the methodology. The regulations will be published in the State Register for public comment.