WAC 246-310-288   Kidney disease treatment centers -- Tie-breakers.  If two or more applications meet all applicable review criteria and there is not enough station need projected for all applications to be approved, the department will use tie-breakers to determine which application or applications will be approved. The department will approve the application accumulating the largest number of points. If sufficient additional stations remain after approval of the first application, the department will approve the application accumulating the next largest number of points, not to exceed the total number of stations projected for a planning area. If the applications remain tied after applying all the tie-breakers, the department will award stations as equally as possible among those applications, without exceeding the total number of stations projected for a planning area.

     (1) The department will award one point per tie-breaker to any applicant that meets a tie-breaker criteria in this subsection.

     (a) Training services (1 point):

     (i) The applicant is an existing provider in the planning area and either offers training services at the facility proposed to be expanded or offers training services in any of its existing facilities within a thirty-five mile radius of the existing facility; or

     (ii) The applicant is an existing provider in the planning area that offers training services in any of its existing facilities within thirty-five miles of the proposed new facility and either intends to offer training services at the new facility or through those existing facilities; or

     (iii) The applicant, not currently located in the planning area, proposes to establish a new facility with training services and demonstrates a historical and current provision of training services at its other facilities; and

     (iv) Northwest Renal Network's most recent year-end facility survey must document the provision of these training services by the applicant.

     (b) Private room(s) for isolating patients needing dialysis (1 point).

     (c) Permanent bed stations at the facility (1 point).

     (d) Evening shift (1 point): The applicant currently offers, or as part of its application proposes to offer at the facility a dialysis shift that begins after 5:00 p.m.

     (e) Meeting the projected need (1 point): Each application that proposes the number of stations that most closely approximates the projected need.

     (2) Only one applicant may be awarded a point for each of the following four tie-breaker criteria:

     (a) Economies of scale (1 point): Compared to the other applications, an applicant demonstrates its proposal has the lowest capital expenditure per new station.

     (b) Historical provider (1 point):

     (i) The applicant was the first to establish a facility within a planning area; and

     (ii) The application to expand the existing facility is being submitted within five years of the opening of its facility; or

     (iii) The application is to build an additional new facility within five years of the opening of its first facility.

     (c) Patient geographical access (1 point): The application proposing to establish a new facility within a planning area that will result in services being offered closer to people in need of them. The department will award the point for the facility located farthest away from existing facilities within the planning area provided:

     (i) The facility is at least three miles away from the next closest existing facility in planning areas that qualify for 4.8 patients per station; or

     (ii) The facility is at least eight miles from the next closest existing facility in planning areas that qualify for 3.2 patients per station.

     (d) Provider choice (1 point):

     (i) The applicant does not currently have a facility located within the planning area;

     (ii) The department will consider a planning area as having one provider when a single provider has multiple facilities in the same planning area;

     (iii) If there are already two unrelated providers located in the same planning area, no point will be awarded.



[Statutory Authority: RCW 70.38.135. 06-24-050, § 246-310-288, filed 12/1/06, effective 1/1/07.]