Proposed ambulatory surgery centers in two counties have gotten the green light from state regulators.

The N.C. Division of Health Service Regulation, Healthcare Planning and Certificate of Need Section has given conditional approval to a Certificate of Need application for proposed ambulatory surgery center in Brunswick County.

The proposed Brunswick Surgery Center, to be operated by a group of local EmergeOrtho physicians and
located in Leland, received conditional approval on April 28.

Several other CON applications for outpatient surgery centers in Brunswick and New Hanover counties were denied.

The approval is for a $4.2 million ambulatory surgery center that would include one operating room and two procedure rooms.

“The application is consistent with the need determination,” state agency officials said.

The state Division of Health Service Regulation denied a CON application to develop an ambulatory surgery center by relocating one operating room from Novant Health Brunswick Medical Center and adding one new operating room and two procedure rooms.

Novant Health appealed the state’s selection of Brunswick Surgery Center for the certificate.

In November, Novant Health turned in comments to the state opposing the CON submitted by Brunswick Surgery Center “in response to a need determination for one operating room in the Brunswick County service area.”

The comments stated that the Brunswick Surgery Center application did not “demonstrate conformity with multiple CON Review Criteria and does not demonstrate conformity with multiple CON Regulatory Criteria and Standards for surgical services.”

The pre-appeal timetable called for completion of construction by Dec. 1, 2018, with occupancy by Jan. 1, 2019. A judge will consider the Novant Health appeal and make a ruling within 270 days.

In New Hanover County, conditional approval also was given April 28 for two ambulatory surgery centers to be operated by Wilmington SurgCare and Cape Fear Surgical Center LLC.

A CON application for an outpatient surgery center submitted by the Surgery Center of Wilmington was denied.

The Wilmington SurgCare facility would add three operating rooms and one minor procedure room, for a total of 10 operating rooms and one minor procedure room, according to the April 28 conditional approval.

The Cape Fear Surgical Center CON proposal is for a new ambulatory surgery center with three existing operating rooms relocated from New Hanover Regional Medical Center and three existing GI endoscopy rooms from Wilmington Health.

The Surgery Center of Wilmington proposal that was denied would have involved the development of a new ambulatory surgery center with three operating rooms and one procedure room.