The certificate of need (CoN) program is a regulatory process administered by the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) that requires nursing home operators to obtain approval before offering new or expanded services. The CoN process is intended to ensure the proposed new nursing home services are needed in the community. In considering an application for new nursing home beds, DOH uses a formula based on the number of beds in the state and the size of the state population aged 70 and above. Current state law also directs DOH to consider the availability of home and community-based services (HCBS) based on data demonstrating that the services are capable of meeting the needs of the population to be served by the nursing home applicant. This report describes a method for calculating “nursing-home-comparable” HCBS capacity to meet current Washington Administrative Code requirements for the CoN process.
