Flaherty attorneys Knight and Coffield successfully argue for certificate of need exemption for WV hospital

Following a multi-year effort, attorneys Caleb Knight and Bob Coffield successfully argued for the approval of a certificate of need exemption for War Memorial Hospital, Inc. to acquire and operate an MRI scanner at Valley Health Spring Mills in Martinsburg, West Virginia. The West Virginia Health Care Authority had denied the exemption. The denial had been upheld by the West Virginia Office of Judges (predecessor to the new Intermediate Court of Appeals of West Virginia) and the Circuit Court of Kanawha County before being reversed and remanded by the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia on March 27, 2023. The Supreme Court agreed with the hospital’s arguments on appeal and determined that the Health Care Authority had improperly interpreted the exemption statute in violation of applicable law. The Court reversed and remanded the Health Care Authority’s decision and directed that the exemption be approved.