Sec. 1. 5 MRSA §20005-B is enacted to read:

§20005-B.__Licensure of methadone clinics

Beginning January 1, 2006, an applicant for initial licensure of a methadone clinic must undergo any criminal record or background check determined to be appropriate by the Attorney General, submit a business and treatment plan for the clinic that includes ongoing counseling for clinic clients and have been issued a certificate of need in accordance with Title 22, chapter 103-A.

Sec. 2. 22 MRSA §328, sub-§17-A, ¶¶B and C, as corrected by RR 2003, c. 1, §15, is amended to read:

B. The addition of a health service that is to be offered by or on behalf of a health care facility that was not offered on a regular basis by or on behalf of the health care facility within the 12-month period prior to the time the services would be offered and that, for the 3rd fiscal year of operation, including a partial first year following addition of that service, is projected to entail incremental annual operating costs directly attributable to the addition of that health service of at least $400,000; or

C. The addition in the private office of a health care practitioner, as defined in Title 24, section 2502, subsection 1-A, of new technology that costs $1,200,000 or more. The department shall consult with the Maine Quality Forum Advisory Council established pursuant to Title 24-A, section 6952, prior to determining whether a project qualifies as a new technology in the office of a private practitioner. Beginning September 30, 2004 and annually thereafter, the threshold amount for review must be updated by the commissioner to reflect the change in the Consumer Price Index medical index. With regard to the private office of a health care practitioner, "new health service" does not include the location of a new practitioner in a geographic area.; or

Sec. 3. 22 MRSA §328, sub-§17-A, ¶D is enacted to read:

D.__The initial establishment of a methadone clinic for the treatment of substance abuse required to be licensed under Title 5, chapter 521.