Judge James G. Blanchard, Jr., heard arguments from University Health Services and Doctors Hospital Surgery Center, who oppose the center, and Medical College of Georgia Physicians Practice Group, who applied for the CON, last week. He is expected to rule as early as next month, according to the report.
University Health Services and Doctors Hospital Surgery Center filed the suit after the Georgia Department of Community Health granted a CON to the proposed center. The Department of Community Health originally granted the CON in 2008, which University Health Services and Doctors Hospital appealed.
In April, an administrative hearing officer determined that the CON should be denied, determining the practice group could not prove a need for ambulatory care services by community’s poor. The practice group did not argue there was an overall need for more ambulatory services in the area when requesting the CON, but argued there was a need for these services by the area’s poor and low-income residents. In June, the practice group appealed to the health department commission and won.
If the health department’s decision is upheld, Physicians Practice Group will move forward with construction of the planned 65,000 square-foot facility, according to the report.
Read the Augusta Chronicle‘s report on the Evans ASC certificate of need.
