The Public Health Trust of Miami-Dade etc. v. Department of Health and Kendall etc. , 230 So. 3d 992 ( 2017 )

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
FIRST DISTRICT, STATE OF FLORIDA
THE PUBLIC HEALTH TRUST NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO
OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND
FLORIDA d/b/a JACKSON DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED
SOUTH COMMUNITY
HOSPITAL, CASE NO. 1D16-3244
Appellant,
v.
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH,
Appellee,
KENDALL HEALTHCARE
GROUP, LTD. d/b/a KENDALL
REGIONAL MEDICAL
CENTER,
Appellee/Cross-Appellant,
_____________________________/
Opinion filed December 6, 2017.
An appeal from an Order of the Department of Health.
Thomas F. Panza, Paul C. Buckley, and Brian S. Vidas of Panza, Maurer & Maynard,
P.A., Fort Lauderdale, for Appellant.
Jay Patrick Reynolds, Chief Legal Counsel, and Sarah Young Hodges, Chief
Appellate Counsel, Tallahassee, for Appellee Department of Health.
Stephen A. Ecenia, J. Stephen Menton, and Gabriel F. V. Warren of Rutledge
Ecenia, P.A., Tallahassee, for Appellee/Cross-Appellant Kendall Healthcare Group,
Ltd. d/b/a Kendall Regional Medical Center.
PER CURIAM.
The Public Health Trust of Miami-Dade County, Florida d/b/a Jackson South
Community Hospital (Jackson South) appeals an order of the Department of Health
(Department) dismissing as moot Jackson South’s petition for a formal
administrative hearing to contest the Department’s decision to deny Jackson South’s
application to operate a provisional Level II trauma center after Jackson South was
granted a provisional license in the following application cycle. Because we
conclude that an actual case or controversy continues to exist with respect to Jackson
South’s first application, we reverse and remand for the Department to consider
Jackson South’s administrative challenge on the merits.
I.
We begin with a brief overview of the statutory and regulatory framework
governing the trauma center application and selection process. The Florida
Legislature has delegated the primary responsibility for the planning and
establishment of a statewide inclusive trauma system to the Department. § 395.40(3),
Fla. Stat. (2015). As part of this legislative mandate, the Department is charged with
allocating, by rule, the number of trauma centers needed for each of the state’s 19
trauma service areas (TSA), subject to the limitations that each TSA should have at
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least one Level I or Level II trauma center and there may be no more than 44 trauma
centers statewide. § 395.402(4)(a)-(c), Fla. Stat. (2015). Relevant to this appeal, TSA
19, which comprises Miami-Dade and Monroe counties, is permitted a maximum of
three trauma centers. Fla. Admin. Code R. 64J-2.010(3).
A. Application and Selection Process
The trauma center application and selection process is a lengthy, multistage
process that begins each year with the Department notifying acute care hospitals and
trauma agencies that it is accepting letters of intent from those hospitals interested
in becoming trauma centers. § 395.4025(2)(a), Fla. Stat. (2015). Letters of intent are
due by October 1, and the Department thereafter distributes an application package
to each hospital that timely submitted a letter of intent. § 395.4025(2)(a)-(b), Fla.
Stat. (2015). The completed application is due by April 1 of the following year. §
395.4025(2)(c), Fla. Stat. (2015).
After the Department receives a trauma center application, it conducts a
provisional review “for the purpose of determining that the hospital's application is
complete and that the hospital has the critical elements required for a trauma center.”
Id. If the Department finds the hospital’s application acceptable based on the
provisional review, the hospital is “eligible to operate as a provisional trauma
center.” § 395.4025(3), Fla. Stat. (2015).
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Between May 1 and October 1, the process entails an “in-depth evaluation”
by the Department of all applications found acceptable in the provisional review. §
395.4025(4), Fla. Stat. (2015). And between October 1 and June 1, a review team of
out-of-state experts assembled by the Department conducts onsite visits of all
provisionally approved trauma centers. § 395.4025(5), Fla. Stat. (2015). Based on
the recommendations from the review team, the Department selects verified trauma
centers by July 1 of the second year following the filing of the letter of intent. §
395.4025(6), Fla. Stat. (2015). If the number of qualified provisional trauma centers
exceeds the number of available slots for verified trauma centers in the applicable
TSA, the Department applies a tiebreaking process developed by rule to make the
final selection(s). Fla. Admin. Code R. 64J-2.016(11). Upon final verification, the
trauma center is granted approval to operate for seven years, provided it continues
to maintain trauma center standards and acceptable patient outcomes, and may
thereafter apply for renewal. § 395.4025(6), Fla. Stat. (2015).
B. Jackson South’s Applications
On or about April 1, 2015, Jackson South applied to operate a Level II trauma
center in TSA 19 during the 2014-2016 application cycle (the “2015 Application”).
Aventura Hospital & Medical Center (Aventura) also applied to operate a Level II
trauma center in TSA 19 in the same application cycle. At that point in time, there
were already two verified trauma centers in TSA 19, Ryder Trauma Center at
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Jackson Memorial and Kendall Regional Medical Center (Kendall). As such, both
Jackson South and Aventura were competing for the sole remaining trauma center
slot in TSA 19.
After the required provisional review of the applications, the Department
denied Jackson South’s application, concluding that it “did not meet the standards
of critical elements for provisional status.” Aventura’s application was accepted by
the Department, and it was provisionally approved to operate a Level II trauma
center in TSA 19.
Jackson South challenged the Department’s decision denying its 2015
Application and a formal administrative hearing was conducted before the Division
of Administrative Hearings. On February 29, 2016, Administrative Law Judge John
G. Van Laningham entered an order rejecting the Department’s decision and
recommending that the Department enter a final order (1) deeming Jackson South’s
2015 Application acceptable, (2) verifying that Jackson South was in substantial
compliance with the requirements of section 395.4025, and (3) approving Jackson
South to operate as a provisional Level II trauma center until the 2014-2016
application cycle concluded for TSA 19. The Department and the Intervenor,
Kendall, filed exceptions to the recommended order.
In the interim, Jackson South filed a Level II trauma center application in the
2015-2017 application cycle (the “2016 Application”). After conducting the required
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provisional review, the Department granted Jackson South provisional licensure and
Jackson South began operating as a provisionally approved Level II trauma center.
Kendall then moved to dismiss Jackson South’s pending administrative
challenge, arguing that it is now moot since Jackson South obtained provisional
approval to operate a Level II trauma center based upon its 2016 Application. The
Department agreed. On July 7, 2016, the Department entered a final order dismissing
Appellant’s petition as moot, concluding that Jackson South “has been granted what
it seeks, a license to operate a provisional level II trauma center.” 1 This timely appeal
followed.
II.
Jackson South contends the Department committed reversible error in the
final order below by not entering a substantive determination on the merits of
Jackson South’s petition challenging the denial of its 2015 Application. We review
de novo the Department’s decision dismissing Jackson South’s administrative
challenge as moot. See Carlin v. State, 939 So. 2d 245, 247 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006).
“An issue is moot when the controversy has been so fully resolved that a judicial
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The Department also concluded that, although the tiebreaking procedure was not
“an issue or controversy in this matter,” the tiebreaking rule “does not indicate that
trauma centers can only engage in head-to-head competition if provisional status
was granted during the same application year.” This conclusion of law is the basis
of Kendall’s cross-appeal. Because we reverse the final order in full, we do not reach
the cross-appeal.
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determination can have no actual effect.” Godwin v. State, 593 So. 2d 211, 212 (Fla.
1992).
We initially address Kendall’s argument that Jackson South abandoned its
2015 Application by filing the 2016 Application. Kendall contends the statutory and
regulatory framework governing the trauma center application process does not
allow a hospital to maintain overlapping trauma center applications before the
Department. However, nothing in the applicable statutes or rules prohibits a hospital
from participating in a subsequent application cycle while challenging the denial of
a previous application. The statutory scheme provides several points of entry for a
hospital to challenge an adverse decision made by the Department, including the
decision to deny an applicant a provisional license. § 395.4025(7), Fla. Stat. (“Any
hospital that wishes to protest a decision made by the department based on the
department's preliminary or in-depth review of applications or on the
recommendations of the site visit review team pursuant to this section shall proceed
as provided in chapter 120.”). Additionally, the Department’s decision to deny an
application for provisional status does not prevent that applicant from submitting
another application in a future application cycle. See Fla. Admin. Code R. 64J-
2.012(1)(g)2. (“The department shall inform each hospital whose provisional
application it has denied of the remaining deficiencies in the application and shall
inform the hospital that it may submit a letter of intent at the beginning of the next
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approval cycle.”). Had the Legislature or the Department intended to limit an
applicant’s right to pursue both of these avenues concurrently, the statute or rule
would explicitly prohibit such action.
Turning to the Department’s mootness determination, the fact that Jackson
South was granted a provisional license to operate a Level II trauma center in TSA
19 based on its 2016 Application does not resolve the controversy that exists by
virtue of the Department’s denial of the 2015 Application. An actual controversy
exists in the 2014-2016 application cycle because, with the denial of Jackson South’s
application, Jackson South will not be allowed to compete with Aventura for the
final available trauma center slot in TSA 19. Had the Department agreed with Judge
Van Laningham’s recommendation to reverse the denial of Jackson South’s
application, Jackson South would have been given the opportunity to proceed
through the rest of the application process, potentially triggering the tiebreaking
mechanism if both hospitals were successful in completing the in-depth review and
site survey stages. At that point, either Aventura or Jackson South–but clearly not
both–would receive final verification to operate as a Level II trauma center for the
seven-year approval period.
Due to the limitation on the number of trauma centers that can operate in TSA
19, Jackson South’s current status as a provisional trauma center does not extinguish
its rights under the 2015 Application. If Aventura is awarded the final remaining
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trauma center slot in TSA 19, Jackson South’s 2016 Application may ultimately be
denied due to a lack of authorized need. Even if a hospital successfully completes
the rigorous application process to become a verified trauma center, there still must
be a need for a trauma center in the relevant TSA. 2 See § 395.4025(5), Fla. Stat.
(providing that “hospitals being considered as provisional trauma centers shall meet
all the requirements of a trauma center and shall be located in a trauma service area
that has a need for such a trauma center”) (emphasis added). Because Jackson
South’s 2016 Application was filed in a later application cycle than Aventura’s, it is
subject to the challenge that it was filed too late to compete with Aventura for the
final slot in TSA 19. Indeed, neither the Department nor Kendall is willing to
concede that Jackson South would be allowed to compete against Aventura for the
final slot in TSA 19 under the 2016 Application. Thus, Jackson South’s
administrative challenge contesting the denial of its 2015 Application is not moot.
Cf. Charter Medical-Southeast, Inc. v. State, Dep’t of Health & Rehabilitative
Servs., 495 So. 2d 759 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986) (concluding that settlement agreement
2
Kendall notes that the Department has proposed rules that would allow there to be
more trauma centers in a given TSA than the Department’s TSA allocation, provided
the statutory cap of 44 trauma centers statewide has not been met. Under the new
rules, Kendall contends that the number of trauma centers allocated to TSA 19 will
no longer present an impediment to Jackson South receiving final approval of its
2016 Application, assuming Jackson South meets all of the substantive application
requirements. We decline to address the extent to which the Department’s proposed
rules, which Kendall acknowledges have been administratively challenged, would
impact the analysis of the issues in this case.
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granting hospital a certificate of need to construct a psychiatric facility did not moot
hospital’s appeal of the agency’s order denying the certificate of need because the
settlement agreement was subject to challenges to which the application was not).
Accordingly, we reverse the Department’s order and remand for further
proceedings consistent with this opinion.
REVERSED and REMANDED.
WETHERELL, RAY, and MAKAR, JJ., CONCUR.
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