Conning the Competition

Alaska requires CONs within five broad categories—hospital beds, beds outside hospitals, equipment, facilities and services. Alaska is the only state that maintains a standard minimum expenditure of $1.5 million across all of its CONs, except its equipment CONs, meaning none of its other CON requirements are triggered until: (1) an individual or facility propose a project or service covered by a CON and (2) the project or service will cost more than $1.5 million. Alaska Stat. § 18.07.031(a), (d). CON application fees in Alaska can cost as much as $75,000.

COVID-19 Response

On April 14, 2020, Governor Dunleavy issued an order allowing hospitals to temporarily increase bed capacity without a CON to
respond to COVID-19. See Amendment 3 (Apr. 14, 2020) to COVID-19 Disaster Order No. 2 (Mar. 31, 2020). The Governor’s temporary CON suspension expired on May 12, 2020.

Application Process

In Alaska, the CON application process usually takes 60–180 days. Alaska Stat. § 18.07.045. Applications can be submitted at any time. The fee for a CON application ranges from $2,500 to $75,000. 7 Alaska Admin. Code § 07.079. Competitors can intervene in the application process and can offer evidence or argument as to why an application should be denied. 7 Alaska Admin. Code § 07.082.