Hospital finance officer Todd Howell said the $5.7 million capital project is one of several planned after refinancing the hospital’s bond debt. The new suite has its roots in a previous attempt to build a new surgery center in Whiteville.
According to the report, in 2006, a group of surgeons obtained a certificate of need from the state to start a new surgery center. The site turned out to have contaminated soil, so the surgeons could not build there. When Medicare payments dropped substantially, the surgical group determined the surgery center was no longer feasible.
The surgery suite addition will allow the hospital to offer more surgical services than before.
