If a health maintenance organization or a health facility controlled, directly or indirectly by it, requests a certificate of necessity and convenience, the Secretary shall approve it if the transaction contemplated is indispensable to cover the needs of the present and potential membership thereof, and if the health maintenance organization cannot provide health services through its facilities at a reasonable cost consistent with the organization’s long-term operations, and with doctors and health professionals associated with the facility, without carrying out the contemplated transaction.
History —Nov. 7, 1975, No. 2, p. 922, added as § 6 on Sept. 19, 1983, No. 16, p. 385, § 8.