1. Georgia’s WellStar Health: approved. Plans for WellStar Health System, based in Marieta, Ga., to build a new ambulatory surgery center in Cobb, Ga., are back on track following approval from the state Department of Community Health. WellStar already received the CON for the new ASC, but Atlanta-based Northside Hospital appealed the CON earlier this year. Following a series of hearings, the Department of Community Health approved the WellStar CON again.
2. North Carolina’s FirstHealth of the Carolinas and Rex Healthcare: pending. A request to build a new surgery center near Erwin, N.C., has yet to receive approval from the North Carolina Division of Health Service Regulation, following a rejection by county commissioners in Harnett, N.C., to endorse the plans. An endorsement by the Harnett county commissioners, who have rejected the request several times, could help the new surgery center receive approval from the state. The two health systems are attempting to build the new ASC by piggybacking off a CON previously issued for a new hospital.
3. North Carolina’s Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center: pending. Wake Forest Medical Center, based in Winston-Salem, N.C., continues to wait for a decision from the N.C. Division of Health Service Regulation on whether the hospital can proceed with its plans for a $38.7 million ambulatory surgery center. State regulators approved the CON in June 2010, but the project was then appealed by Novant Health. The surgery center would include seven new ORs and one transferred from N.C. Baptist Hospital.
4. Alaska’s Kahtnu Ventures: pending. Kahtnu Ventures filed a certificate of need application for a new ASC in Kenai, Alaska, with the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services in September. The CON is to build an estimated $8 million, 8,365-square-foot ASC by 2013. The CEO of Central Peninsula Hospital in Soldotna, Alaska, has said the ASC could significantly impact hospital profits and outpatient surgery volume if built. He also indicated there is little known about the company that filed for the CON.
5. New York’s Eastern Niagara Hospital: approved. Eastern Niagara Hospital in Lockport, N.Y., received a green light for its new ambulatory surgery center in late August. The state Public Health Council approved the hospital’s application for the $5.6 million project, and the same week, the hospital purchased the building where the center will be built. The hospital also plans to relocate the services currently offered at its imaging center to the facility in 2012.
6. North Carolina’s Cone Health: denied. State regulators denied a certificate of need application by Cone Health to add a new surgery center to its MedCenter High Point (N.C.) facility in September. Cone Health, formerly Moses Cone Health System, applied for the CON earlier in 2011 to build the $10.7 million joint-venture ASC. The 12,000-square-foot facility would have been called Triad Surgery Center. The state rejected the application on the grounds that a new ASC is not necessary due to declines in surgery service demands.
7. North Carolina’s Southeastern Regional Medical Center: pending. Health system officials at Southeastern Regional Medical Center filed a certificate of need with the state earlier this year for a proposed $13.7 million outpatient surgery center. The three- to four-story building would house outpatient surgical services as well as physician offices and retail operations. The approval process for the CON could take approximately six months.
8. North Carolina’s Mission Hospital: denied. A certificate of need application by Mission Hospital, based in Asheville, N.C., to relocate an endoscopy unit to a new outpatient center was denied by state regulators in early September. Mission applied for the CON in March to move the endoscopy unit from its Asheville campus to the planned outpatient center in Fletcher, N.C. The proposed move of the endoscopy center faced opposition by Hendersonville-based Park Ridge Health and some local physicians.
9. Kentucky’s Jewish Hospital & St. Mary’s HealthCare: pending. Jewish Hospital & St. Mary’s HealthCare, based in Louisville, Ky., applied for a certificate of need to become a partner in an orthopedic surgery center in Louisville in June. The ambulatory surgery center is operated by Louisville Orthopaedic Clinic and Sports Rehabilitation and is part of the Louisville Orthopaedic Clinic. News of the CON application arrived only a few weeks after JHSMH entered into a formal agreement with Surgical Care Affiliates to acquire an interest in the general partnership that operates Surgecenter of Louisville and Premier Surgery Center, also in Louisville.
10. Hawaii’s MIS Endoscopy: pending. A group of physicians applied for a certificate of need to build a new ambulatory surgery center specializing in endoscopy in Honolulu in April. The group hopes to build a $5.4 million ASC that would be located in Hale Pawaa, a professional services building.
