How to find Maryland Certificate of Need filings
Where the Maryland Health Care Commission publishes CON records, what each document contains, and how to get the ones that are not online.
Where does Maryland publish CON filings?
The Maryland Health Care Commission posts current matters on its active and past CON applications index, which runs from 2021 on. Each docket has a matter page with its timeline and every posted document by section. Filings from 2016 to 2020 were moved to an archive section of the site; Internet Archive copies of the former pages, such as the completed reviews list, still link them. The 2026 review schedule gives letter of intent and application due dates by service and region but names no filers.
What does each document tell you?
The matter page gives the project type (CON or exemption), the facility type and the dates the application was submitted, docketed, closed to comment and decided. The staff report or Reviewer's Recommended Decision carries the applicant, county, cost, letter of intent date, recommendation, conditions and interested parties, usually with the Final Order. The certificate, withdrawal letter or dismissal records how the matter ended. The bimonthly CON status reports, posted through 2021, list decisions, withdrawals, matters under review and approved projects under development.
Why is it hard to follow a request from start to finish?
The same docket number is printed differently across the staff report, the minutes, the Register and the index on several matters. The index status can disagree with the documents: some matters listed as Denied were dismissed or found incomplete. The matter page and the staff report often give different docketing dates. Older matters are only in archive copies, and MHCC posts no list of letters of intent.
How do I get records that are not online?
Send a Public Information Act request to MHCC at mhcc.piarequests@maryland.gov. Name the docket numbers and the documents you want. The letter of intent log and documents missing from the 2016 to 2020 archive copies are the main things to ask for.
Is there other public data that helps?
The Maryland Register prints MHCC notices of applications received, formal start of review, exemption requests and letters of intent for review-cycle services. Commission meeting minutes record each vote, recusals and exceptions hearings. Cardiac surgery and PCI matters are on a separate cardiac care projects page. HB 498, effective October 1, 2026, moves ICF projects to exemption requests, so ICF CON filings should stop.
Where does COPN Atlas fit?
COPN Atlas joins those documents into one row per docket: 162 Maryland matters from January 2016 on, 142 CON applications and 20 exemption requests, with the recommendation, Commission vote, conditions, interested parties and cost. 118 were approved, 3 denied and 23 withdrawn, and 6 are pending. The Pipeline tab adds 8 letters of intent with no application yet. Links point to MHCC's documents or the archive copy that was read. See what is in the Maryland file.
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