How to find District of Columbia Certificate of Need filings
Where SHPDA publishes Certificate of Need records, what each document contains, and how to get the ones that are not online.
Where does the District publish CON filings?
The State Health Planning and Development Agency (SHPDA) at DC Health posts a yearly table of decisions on its certificate of need page. Case documents sit on SHPDA's meeting portal, attached to the agenda of each meeting where the case came up. The monthly Report of the Director is attached to the Statewide Health Coordinating Council meeting agendas. Letters of intent for 2025 and 2026 are in a library on the same portal.
What does each document tell you?
The letter of intent printout gives the registration number, legal name, addresses with ward and ANC, the service, a description and the proposed capital expenditure. The completeness letter prints the date the review period begins. The staff report gives the proposed capital expenditure, the Project Review Committee date and the preliminary staff recommendation to the SHPDA Director. The decision letter and findings give the Director's conclusion and the certificate, with its expiry, conditions and uncompensated care level. The yearly table lists each decision and its date.
Why is it hard to follow a request from start to finish?
Documents are filed by meeting, not by case, so one case is spread over several agendas. The same registration number can be printed several ways. The portal has only two published meetings before 2021. On some cases the file named as a completeness letter is the applicant's answers to SHPDA's questions, not SHPDA's letter. The 2026 table stops at the June 4, 2026 decision.
How do I get records that are not online?
Send a FOIA request to the DC Health FOIA officer at DOH.FOIA@dc.gov. Name the registration numbers and documents you want. Staff reports and decisions for 2016 to 2020 and letters of intent before 2025 are not in the portal library and have to be requested.
Is there other public data that helps?
The CON law is in the DC Code at section 44-401 and following. D.C. Law 26-7, effective June 10, 2025, raises the capital thresholds from $6 million to $15 million for hospitals and from $3.5 million to $5 million for other facilities, but the Code notes still say it is not implemented. Confirm with SHPDA which threshold applies. D.C. Law 26-172, effective August 20, 2026, ties CON good standing to a financial assistance policy, subject to funding.
Where does COPN Atlas fit?
COPN Atlas joins the tables, portal documents and Director reports into one row per registration number: 313 District requests decided, withdrawn or last seen from January 2016 through October 28, 2026. 259 were approved, 3 approved in part, 41 denied and 7 withdrawn. 145 rows carry full detail from a staff report or decision letter, with the Director's conclusion and conditions where stated. The file adds 10 pending matters and 119 letters of intent. See what is in the District file.
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One subscription covers every state in the file. Nothing is due until the first file arrives in January 2027, and you can cancel before then at no cost.