Competing health care systems seeking to develop new operating room facilities in New Hanover and Brunswick counties await word from the state Department of Health and Human Services on which proposals will get the green light.
Certificates of need requesting permission to add operating rooms in New Hanover and Brunswick counties are currently under review by the state’s Healthcare Planning and Certificate of Need Section.
In New Hanover County, three CON applications to develop three operating rooms were filed in response to a need determination included in the 2016 State Medical Facilities Plan. In Brunswick County, two competing CON applications have been filed with the state to develop one operating room in conjunction with that facilities plan.
The New Hanover County proposals are for the Cape Fear Surgical Center, Wilmington Surgcare and Surgery Center of Wilmington.
The Cape Fear Surgical Center proposal includes a new ambulatory surgical center including three operating rooms, relocating three operating rooms from New Hanover Regional Medical Center and relocating three existing GI/ endoscopy rooms from Wilmington Health, for a total of six operating rooms and three procedure rooms.
If approved, the project is expected to cost $28.9 million and be complete by July 2018.
“We are considering building a free-standing ambulatory surgical center at 2708 Aston Drive, centrally located between Shipyard and Independence boulevards,” Claire Parker, New Hanover Regional spokeswoman, said in an email response to questions.
The proposed ambulatory surgical center would be a joint venture between New Hanover Regional, Wilmington Health and New Hanover Ambulatory Surgery, Parker said.
The Wilmington Surgcare proposal would add three operating rooms and one procedure room to an existing ambulatory surgical center on South 17th Street.
The project has a cost estimate of $5.6 million and would be complete by January 2020.
The Surgery Center of Wilmington proposal includes development of a new ambulatory surgical center on Carolina Beach Road with three operating rooms and one procedure room. The projected cost of the project is $9.6 million and would be complete by January 2019.
In Brunswick County, two applicants have filed CON applications with the state to develop one operating room. Both call to be located in Leland, which has almost quadrupled in population since 2005.
Brunswick Surgery Center proposes a facility on South Dickinson Drive in Brunswick Forest. The proposal includes a new ambulatory surgical center with one operating room and two procedure rooms. The project is estimated to cost $4.2 million and be complete in January 2019.
Meanwhile, Novant Health Brunswick Outpatient Surgery also proposes a new ambulatory surgical center at U.S. Hwy. 17 and Olde Regent Way in Leland after relocating one operating room from Novant Health Brunswick Medical Center and adding one new operating room. The project is estimated to cost $14.1 million and be complete in January 2019.
Dosher Memorial Hospital in Southport is opposed to both proposed facilities, for reasons including Leland’s proximity to Wilmington facilities a longer distance for south Brunswick County patients to have to drive and expected shifts in outpatient volume for Dosher under Brunswick Surgery Center’s proposal.
Hospital spokesman James Goss said that in addition to Dosher medical staff and hospital volunteers, more than 500 members of the public sent letters to the Certificate of Need Section of the DHHS supporting Dosher’s position.
The letters were included in a packet submitted Jan. 4 by the hospital to the state. Public hearings for the proposals in both counties have been held locally, and the DHHS Healthcare Planning and Certificate of Need Section’s review on them began on Dec. 1. The deadline for decisions to be mailed for all of the applications is April 29.
