Davita Healthcare Partners, Inc. v. Wa State Dept Of Health

¶1 Both DaVita and Northwest Kidney Centers (NKC) submitted certificate of need applications for five kidney dialysis stations in south King County. DaVita sought to build a new facility to accommodate the stations, whereas NKC sought to expand an existing facility. The Department of Health’s Certificate of Need Program concluded that DaVita’s application satisfied more of WAC 246-310-288’s criteria than NKC’s application. It awarded DaVita the certificate of need. The health law judge reversed and granted NKC’s certificate of need application. He reasoned that the program erred in utilizing…