The Georgia Supreme Court has declined to review our decision in Chattahoochee Valley Home Health Care v. Healthmaster, supra; however, on July 28, 1989, it entered an order staying its remittitur in the case pending the filing of an application for certiorari in the Supreme Court of the United States.

The appellants herein, Three Rivers Home Health Services, Inc., (Three Rivers), and VNA of Greater Tift, Inc., (VNA), are additional competing home health care providers which have challenged Healthmaster's grandfather status and have sought judicial review of the SHPA's declaratory ruling upholding Healthmaster's right to operate without obtaining a certificate of need. In the VNA action, the superior court granted a joint motion to dismiss filed by Healthmaster and the SHPA; while in the separate Three Rivers action, the court denied a joint motion to dismiss filed by Healthmaster and the SHPA but then affirmed the SHPA's declaratory ruling on the merits. The cases are before us pursuant to our grant of the appellants' applications for discretionary appeal of these respective rulings. Held:

1. Based on our decision in Chattahoochee Valley Home Health Care v. Healthmaster, supra, that the plaintiffs had standing as business competitors to seek judicial review of the SHPA's rulings regarding Healthmaster's grandfather status, we hold, in case no. A89A1007, that the trial court erred in granting the appellees' joint motion to dismiss the complaint filed by VNA.

2. In case nos. A89A0991 and A89A0992, which are cross-appeals filed by Healthmaster and the SHPA from the denial of their joint motion to dismiss the Three Rivers action, the ruling complained of is affirmed. In case no. A89A0090, which is Three Rivers' appeal from the lower court's order affirming the SHPA's ruling on its merits, we hold, on the basis of our holding in Chattahoochee Valley Home Health Care v. Healthmaster, supra, that Healthmaster is not exempted from the certificate of need requirement under OCGA 31-7-155, and that the court's ruling was consequently in error.