From Staff Reports

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — UNC Health recently announced a proposed expansion to its system with a new, 92-bed acute care hospital in Asheville, near Westgate Mall and Patton Avenue.

If approved, the new hospital would be called UNC Health West.

 UNC Health noted in a June18 news release that it applied on June 15 for a certificate of need for all 92 beds that state regulators determined were needed this year.

 UNC Health is a state-owned, not-for-profit hospital system system. Expansions and certain equipment purchases need to be approved by the state for any hospital here.

To that end, certificates of need are required in North Carolina for healthcare providers to acquire certain equipment or expand beds, services or facilities, to ensure that they are aligned with increased community need, based on factors such as population growth, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ website.

UNC Health applied unsuccessfully for state approval to build a previous version of The UNC Health West project last year and is also appealing that decision to deny UNC Health the necessary beds.

In a partnership between UNC Health, the state-owned not-for-profit system, and UNC Health Pardee, in Hendersonville, UNC Health West would join the network’s other WNC hospitals including UNC Health Blue Ridge in Morganton, UNC Health Appalachian in Boone and UNC Health Caldwell in Lenoir.

The proposed hospital would have an emergency room, intensive care unit, a maternity ward with neonatal care, cardiology, gastroenterology, radiology, psychiatry, speech pathology, physical therapy and occupation therapy, according to its news release.

“This proposal is designed around what residents have asked for: more choice, shorter wait times and patient-centered care close to home,” the release stated.

The system intends the new hospital to expand health care access and advance research for residents of the counties of Buncombe, Clay, Graham, Madison and Yancey, the release noted.

“As these communities grow, our goal is to grow along with them to ensure increased access to care, closer to home, from the state’s public, academic health system,” UNC Health CEO Cristy Page said in the release.