Pardee UNC Health Care's planned $16 million ASC is part of the nonprofit hospital's strategy for adapting to healthcare consumerism, Hendersonville Lightning reports.
Here's what you should know:
1. Hendersonville, N.C.-based Pardee UNC Health received conditional approval Nov. 29, 2018, to build a $16 million ASC in Mills River, N.C. Pardee's certificate of need application estimated the ASC's physicians would perform 2,609 surgeries and 764 other cases in its first year of operation.
2. Pardee Partners Ambulatory Surgery Center will be the first freestanding ASC in Henderson County, according to Pardee UNC CMO David Ellis, MD. Adjacent Buncombe County has two ASCs, so patients currently migrate across county lines for treatment.
3. There is a high demand for services in Henderson County because of an aging population. Henderson County's median age is above the state average, and the population is expected to grow at twice the rate of the total population.
4. The ASC's anticipated opening date is July 2021. Two operating rooms will be shifted from the Hendersonville hospital to the new facility.
5. Pardee Partners Ambulatory Surgery Center will be partly physician-owned, but the hospital has yet to officially select physician-investors.
"Outpatient surgeries is growing at a greater rate than in-patient surgeries as patients seek lower cost, better quality and greater value," Pardee CEO Jay Kirby said at public CON hearing. "Henderson County's surgeries have grown at an even higher rate. Outpatient surgical volume has declined in recent years and we believe this is likely attributable to the lack of access at a lower cost from ASC services in our county."