A judge in Connecticut dismissed a 2021 appeal by Day Kimball Healthcare against the state and Hartford HealthCare over approval of a Plainfield, Conn.-based ASC, according to a Dec. 31 report from Hartford Business Journal.
Officials with Day Kimball plan to appeal the decision, which was related to the approval of an HHC ASC.
The judge ruled that Day Kimball lacked the legal standing to challenge the ASC because "the financial and competitive interests asserted by Day Kimball in this appeal are not within the zone of interests," protected by state law.
Day Kimball claimed that HHC failed to gain proper certificate-of-need approval for the ASC. Connecticut's Office of Health Strategy countered that HHC did properly apply state law, and the judge agreed.
The appeal was filed after a settlement in the CON application process was issued on Jan. 26, 2021. Day Kimball had requested a public hearing on the CON approval for the surgery center in 2020.
During the settlement, a judge ruled that HHC was required to close one of its six operating rooms at Windham Hospital and be licensed for five ORs.
HHC's Plainfield Surgery Center was then approved to have two operating rooms and two additional rooms to be shelled for future use.
The ASC focuses on orthopedics, pain management, urology and gastroenterology.
The dispute arose when HHC attempted to expand its footprint in Fairfield, Windham and Litchfield counties.