S.C. Court of Appeals issues standing opinion in CON case

In Commander Health Care Facilities, Inc v. DHEC, Commander filed a declaratory judgment action seeking to overturn DHEC's approval of additional new Medicaid beds for Heritage Home. Commander also sought a declaration that DHEC’s grant of permission to Heritage Home to build new Medicaid beds under Proviso 9.35, which gave DHEC permission to grant requests for new beds without obtaining a CON.

The Court of Appeals upheld the circuit court's decision that no standing existed. Commander suffered no injury because it failed to put forth any evidence that it applied for and was denied Medicaid beds contemporaneous with or since Heritage Home was awarded beds under the Proviso and it did not assert that it had any particular plans to apply for beds in the future. Without an injury, there is no standing.