State health regulators determined that allowing Cone Health to expand its hospital presence in Alamance County outweighed Duke Health and Novant Health Inc.’s joint attempt to bring heightened competition to the market.
The N.C. Division of Health Service Regulation released its determination last week on which health care system would be permitted to build a 46-bed community hospital in Mebane.
Counting the 170 beds at Alamance Regional Medical Center in Burlington, Cone would operate all 216 hospital beds in the county.
The systems filed competing bids in April.
Regulators evaluated their competing certificate-of-need applications on seven factors.
Cone was listed as more effective for access by service area residents, Medicare patients and Medicaid patients.
Cone emphasized its presence in the Alamance health care marketplace, most notably ownership and operation of the 238-bed Burlington hospital since May 2013.
Cone was cited for its potential to serve more Medicare and Medicaid patients at a Mebane hospital than a Duke/Novant hospital because of its preexisting relationships with Mebane residents through Alamance Regional.
Cone currently has 45 full-time medical group providers serving Alamance residents.
Meanwhile, the Duke Health/Novant application was cited for providing access from a new or alternate provider.
The applications were considered equally qualified in conformity with statutory and regulatory review criteria, scope of services and geographic accessibility.
“We’re thrilled to see this project move forward,” said Chad Boone, president of Alamance Regional. “It will make a real difference for families in our region.”
Pending a potential Novant appeal, Cone’s planned $220 million hospital in Mebane would begin construction in January and open on April 1, 2029.
Novant has until Oct. 22 to appeal the decision. Novant has not returned Journal requests for comment.
In many certificate-of-need application instances, the losing applicant files an appeal of the decision that could take several months, if not a year or more, to resolve.
Mebane appeal
Mebane, with about 20,500 residents, is on the eastern part of the Triad and the western edge of the Triangle, with the town limits dipping into Orange County.
Mebane is best known for the Tanger outlet shopping center and a series of truck stops. However, the city has become a popular bedroom community for people commuting into Greensboro, Chapel Hill, Durham and Raleigh.
Cone plans to build the community hospital at 103 Medical Park Drive, adjacent to Cone’s MedCenter location in Mebane.
The application is the first for Cone since being acquired in December by Risant Health, which has made a $1.7 billion financial commitment over five years to Cone.
“Cone Health has successfully helped meet the healthcare needs of eastern Alamance County close to home for more than a dozen years,” said Bernie Sherry, Cone’s interim chief executive.
“This hospital will strengthen our ability to serve the community and ensure access to care for generations to come.”
Duke/Novant pitch
A proposed Duke Novant Mebane Hospital would represent a $225 million capital investment for a facility located off Gregory Poole Lane. Duke University Health System owns the property.
Duke and Novant chose Mebane as the potential first location of a statewide expansion collaboration whose seeds were planted in March. They would have equal ownership of their proposed Mebane hospital.
Dr. Pam Oliver, Novant’s chief medical officer and one of its top Triad executives, cited the network of community hospitals Novant owns and has established in the Triad and Charlotte areas.
She discussed hospitals built in Ballantyne, Clemmons, Huntersville, Kernersville, Matthews, Mint Hill and Scotts Hill. Novant recently gained South Carolina regulatory authorization to build a 20-bed hospital in Greenville, S.C.
Simon Curtis, chief operating officer of Duke Health Integrated Practice, said the proposed Mebane hospital would provide insight into how the Duke-Novant statewide collaboration “would develop new care models and build facilities that are responsive, inclusive and high performing.”
Novant losing streak
A Mebane hospital would have represented Novant’s first entrance into Alamance, while significantly expanding Duke’s presence beyond the Kernodle clinics in Burlington and Mebane.
The denial of the CON application continues a string of setbacks for Novant.
Regulators have twice denied Novant’s bids to gain a foothold in the Asheville and Raleigh areas through community hospital applications.
In December, regulators rejected Novant’s application to open a 26-bed Asheville-area hospital, allowing AdventHealth to expand a planned hospital campus in Buncombe County. Regulators also turned down an application from Mission Hospital Inc.
Regulators rejected Novant’s bid to open a 67-bed community hospital in Asheville in December 2022 in favor of AdventHealth‘s planned 67-bed hospital in Weaverville. Mission also had a CON application denied.
In February, regulators denied Novant’s application for a 36-bed Knightdale Medical Center with a projected cost of $286.94 million.
The approved applicants were all healthcare systems with existing hospitals that could be expanded with new beds and operating rooms: Duke Raleigh (five beds), UNC Rex (20 beds, two operating rooms), WakeMed (21 beds, two operating rooms), and WakeMed Cary (24 beds).
Undaunted, Novant filed an application in August for a 26-bed community hospital in Knightdale with a capital investment of $254.7 million.
rcraver@wsjournal.com
336-727-7376
@rcraverWSJ
Love
0
Funny
0
Wow
0
Sad
0
Angry
0
The business news you need
Get the latest local business news delivered FREE to your inbox weekly.
* I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
Richard Craver
Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily!
Your notification has been saved.
There was a problem saving your notification.
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Followed notifications
Please log in to use this feature
Log In
Don’t have an account? Sign Up Today