New Hanover Regional Medical Center awaits a response on a Certificate of Need filed June 15 with the state of North Carolina to relocate 68 beds from the NHRMC Orthopedic Hospital to a new patient tower above the NHRMC Surgical Pavilion at NHRMC’s 17th Street main campus. 

It likely won’t be until the end of the year before a decision is made on the CON request, hospital system spokeswoman Claire Parker said. 

Moving orthopedic inpatient procedures to the main campus “would give the renowned NHRMC Orthopedics team and their patients easier access to all of the available resources and comprehensive support offered at NHRMC,” a news release stated. 

Hospital officials said the proposal was prompted by extensive updating that needs to be done at the existing Orthopedic Hospital at 5301 Wrightsville Ave. The future role of the facility formerly known as Cape Fear Hospital hasn’t been decided, Parker said in late July.

Originally called Cape Fear Memorial Hospital, the facility opened in the 1950s by a group of physicians as a private hospital. In 1998, New Hanover Regional and Cape Fear Hospital merged, according to NHRMC’s website.

If the request to move the beds is approved by the state, plans call for a new facility to include 108 rooms and 134,000 square feet of space on three floors “designated specifically for orthopedic, spine and musculoskeletal and surgical patients,” the release stated.

The NHRMC Surgical Pavilion – the proposed site of the facility – was designed to allow upward expansion “and therefore is the ideal place for this new comprehensive orthopedic and spine center,” the release stated.

The NHRMC Orthopedic Hospital team currently performs about 9,000 procedures annually, officials said. 

The project “will bring together the comprehensive clinical resources of NHRMC with the successful culture and environment for patients that has been developed by the NHRMC Orthopedic Hospital team over many years,” the release said.

The emergency department and NHRMC Health & Diagnostics locations at the Cape Fear campus will remain open until future relocation plans are determined, the release said.

Construction could begin in 2017 if the CON is approved, with the project lasting three to five years. The total cost of the project, including construction and equipment, is estimated to be $87 million. 

“As with all projects going through concept, design and development, this estimate will be further itemized and finalized as the vision for the new NHRMC Orthopedic Hospital develops,” Parker said.

Parker added that no jobs would be lost as a result of eventual relocation of the emergency department and NHRMC Health & Diagnostics.

 “Some staff will be assigned to work at different locations. As with all growth and change, we are fortunate to know that this change offers the team broader access to resources while always keeping our patients needs’ first,” she said.

“NHRMC is evaluating outpatient care options, opportunities to expand parking on the 17th Street campus, and future use of the Cape Fear Campus, pending approval of the CON request,” the release stated.

A multidisciplinary team that includes doctors, clinicians, hospital leadership, architects and construction teams is working together “to ensure our patients’ needs are at the center of all planning,” the news release said. 

Parker said the comprehensive team, using lean methodology, studied many options – “all inspired by what is best for the patients we serve. The team determined the best option is for NHRMC to move its renowned NHRMC Orthopedic Hospital to the NHRMC main campus at 17th Street,” she said.