Gathered before the Georgia Supreme Court Tuesday, attorneys on either side of a contested hospital-expansion project disputed whether former Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH) Commissioner Frank Berry applied the appropriate standard in rejecting factual findings that invalidated a metro Atlanta hospital’s application for a certificate of need.

More than a year after the Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed the commissioner’s decision as “proper,” the justices entertained oral arguments before weighing the underlying determination.

‘An Atypical Barrier’