Issue

Certificate of need—contested case—final decisions subject to review—deference to factual determination

Summary

In a contested case proceeding initiated by petitioners–a pair of medical services entities that jointly filed an application for a certificate of need (CON) for a single additional fixed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner to be placed in Wake County–after respondent–the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Health Care Planning and Certificate of Need Section–denied petitioners' application and awarded the CON to another applicant (respondent-intervenor), the Supreme Court emphasized that, under 2011 amendments to the Administrative Procedure Act, the final decision of the administrative law judge (ALJ), rather than the final agency decision by respondent, was subject to judicial review. Further, in reaching a final decision, the ALJ was not required to give deference to certain of respondent's factual determinations resulting from its comparative analysis of the competing applications, because respondent had committed multiple reversible errors (including mathematical mistakes and departures from respondent's own practices and procedures) and, thus, those determinations were not based upon respondent's specialized knowledge or expertise.

Summary from the North Carolina Reports digest (official subject index). Read the opinion →