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From Staff Reports
HEN DERSONVILLE — Pardee UNC Health Care of Hendersonville — a non-applicant, but competitor — has entered a claim that each of the three hospital systems competing to fill the need for
more acute care beds in the Asheville area has failed to prove that the area even needs the beds by overstating projections related to population and length of hospital stays.
“The 2022 State Medical Facilities Plan listed the need for 67 more acute care beds in the service area covering Buncombe, Madison, Yancey and Graham counties,†Ashevllle television station WLOS (News 13) reported Sept. 21. “Since then, Mission Health, Novant Health and AdventHealth have submitted applications to bring more hospital beds to the mountains. Mission is looking to add the beds to its current campus, while Novant Health and AdventHealth are each looking to build a facility in Buncombe County.
“Though Pardee, UNC Healthcare is not in the running to bring more hospital beds to the mountains, it did weigh in on the battle in an Aug. 1 letter to state officials,†News 13 noted. When the Daily Planet contacted Pardee officials on Sept. 23 for any further developments regarding the hospital’s letter — and the alleged problem it cites,
Specifically, Erica Allison, who is Pardee’s chief of communications and public relations, stated: “Pardee has no additional comments to add to what has already been submitted to NC DHSR.â€
Regarding Pardee’s stance in its letter of opposition to the new hospital, health care expert Paul Keckley was quoted by News 13 as saying, “I mean that’s just being competitive.â€
Furthermore, News 13 reported, “In the letter, Pardee asked state officials to reject bids from all three of the contenders. Pardee wrote that prior to the 2022 State Medical Facilities Plan, no bed need had been generated in this area in more than 10 years.
“Pardee officials said the bed need was generated only in the two years since COVID-19 began impacting the number of ‘patient days,’ or days patients spent in the hospital.â€
To that end, Keckley told News 13, “Typically, what any challenger will do is challenge the underlying methodology and challenge the assumptions made by each of the folks submitting a proposal.
Pardee officials wrote that “the ultimate need determination for 67 beds was generated exclusively by the COVID- 19 adjustments to the methodology,†News 13 reported. “In other words, actual patient days did not generate the need for additional beds in the Buncombe/Graham/Madison/Yancey service area."
News 13 also said of Pardee’s letter the following:
“They wrote that COVID-19 impacted the bed-need calculation in two ways. One of those ways was that ‘2020 patient days, used as the baseline for 2024 projections, were adjusted to be higher than actual patient days.’ The other way, they wrote, was that ‘growth rates used to project 2024 patient days, which included the 2020 growth that was based on adjusted patient days, were also higher than normal.
’“Pardee ultimately claimed that ‘using the actual data from 2020 would have resulted in no bed need in the 2022 SMFP, compared with the bed need of 67, driven exclusively by the upward adjustments for COVID-19.’â€
What’s more, News 13 noted that Pardee officials wrote in the letter “that they recognize that the need determination in the 2022 State Medical Facilities Plan was finalized by the State Health Coordinating Council and approved by Gov. Roy Cooper. They said they believe it is important for officials to consider ‘these unique facts and circumstances in the context of this review.’“
In the letter, Pardee went through each hospital’s bid of more beds, concluding that each failed to demonstrate that the project is needed and would not unnecessarily duplicate existing services. Pardee officials said applications from Mission Health, Novant Health and AdventHealth should not be approved.â€
As for why a non-contender might weigh in on this process, News 13 quoted Keckley as answering, “You know there’s going to be some additional monies available to these three bigger players. That could erode your finances, it could erode your market share."
Meanwhile, Mission provided the following statement regarding Pardee’s letter to state officials urging them to reject all three bids:
“At Mission Hospital, we know there is a need for more advanced care beds in Western North Carolina because we are caring for these critically sick patients every day. The community’s utilization of these advanced services indicates that Mission Hospital plays a critical role in the region with more than 6,200 transfers in 2021 to Mission Hospital from surrounding hospitals, including Pardee. As of 4 pm today, we have 134 patients receiving care in our ER, many of whom will require admission for Mission Hospital’s advanced services, so we have absolutely no doubt that not only are more beds needed, but that we are the best equipped to provide them for our region.â€
News 13 noted that, “when asked for a statement in response, a spokesperson for AdventHealth pointed News 13 to the hospital’s application, which states its argument for being the system to bring more beds to the mountains.
Elsewhere, a spokesperson for Novant Health was quoted by News 13 as saying, ‘Novant Health respects the CON process regarding need determinations and petitions so we don’t have anything to add to your story.â€
What’s more, News 13 reported, “Pardee is even looking to the future and going one step further, petitioning state officials in an Aug. 10 letter to remove the need for 31 more acute care beds in this area as listed in the 2023 draft proposed State Medical Facilities Plan.“
In the petition, Pardee presented similar arguments to its Aug. 1 letter, claiming the need for more beds has been inflated and distorted by COVID-19’s impact on bed utilization over the past couple of years,†News 13 stated.
Additionally, it wrote, “It also makes sense in this situation to delay any further bed need determinations in this service area until after the three pending applications for additional acute care beds in Buncombe County in response to the 2022 SMFP can be subjected to public comment and reviewed by the Agency.â€
News 13 added, “Pardee claimed there would be adverse effects if its petition is not approved, including continued reduction in competition through the development of unnecessary acute care bed capacity.â€
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