From Staff Reports 

The N.C. Attorney General’s Office is opposing Mission Hospital’s attempt to open a 67-bed community hospital in Western North Carolina, “which could improve the odds for Novant Health Inc.’s bid,” the Winston-Salem Journal reported July 26.

Josh Stein’s objection was stated in a three-page letter sent July 25 to state health regulators, the Journal noted.

“The 2022 state Medical Facilities Plan listed a need for 67 acute-care hospital beds to cover Buncombe, Graham, Madison and Yancey counties, likely by 2024,” the Winston-Salem newspaper stated

“Mission, Novant and AdventHealth responded by filing certificate-of-need (CON) applications.

“Mission is the region’s dominant for-profit health care system with a combined 733 beds in the market, including a children’s hospital,” the Journal reported.

AdventHealth is a Seventh-day Adventist non-profit healthcare system headquartered in Altamonte Springs, Fla.

Meanwhile, Stone wrote, “The certificate-of-need application process for 67 acute-care beds ... provides a much-needed opportunity to introduce competition into western North Carolina’s health care market.”

The Department of Health and Human Services “should seize that opportunity ... by denying Mission’s application,” Stein wrote.

“State law requires that state health regulators approve a certificate of need before providers can build new health care centers or add certain equipment,” the Journal stated.

“The goal of the CON process is limiting unnecessary duplication of services in a community, although some Republican legislative leaders claims the process limits the ability of independent and for-profit providers to enter markets and lower costs.

“Stein said he is taken a neutral position on the Novant and AdventHealth applications,” the Journal reported.

A public hearing on the three CON applications is set for 9:30 a.m. Aug. 12 on the Asheville campus of Asheville-Buncombe Technical College.

Novant applied June 15 for permission to build a $328.73 million community hospital campus. The health system already has an imaging center in the market.

With its Asheville effort, Novant, with facilities already in the Triad, Charlotte and Wilmington, is pursuing a fourth urban healthcare presence in North Carolina.

Mission has proposed a $125.04 million expansion of its existing campus.

AdventHealth has proposed a $252.12 million capital investment. Advent’s lone North Carolina hospital is in neighboring Hendersonville.

“The lack of competition is the result of Mission’s unique history,” Stein wrote.