Four hospital systems are vying for state approval to expand their presence in Buncombe County — and the result could have big repercussions for the region’s health care landscape.
Wednesday was the deadline for applicants to submit their plans to the state Department of Health and Human Services for providing up to 129 more acute-care beds serving residents of Buncombe, Graham, Madison and Yancey counties.
State law mandates that health care providers must apply for approval, also known as a “Certificate of Need,” to expand certain services and facilities, such as the number of beds. The process has played out multiple times in recent years as the region’s health care needs grow.
The four hospital systems that have applied in the current round are Mission Health System, AdventHealth, Novant Health and UNC Health Pardee. Depending on which applicant is awarded the beds, the region’s health care market could become further consolidated – or it could see greater competition.
Mission Health is seeking to add the 129 beds to its existing facilities. The hospital system has long dominated Buncombe County’s health care industry and is currently in the midst of a hiring spree unrelated to the Certificate of Need application. But it has faced an exodus of staff and a litany of complaints related to patient safety and alleged understaffing by its parent company, Nashville-based HCA Healthcare, which bought the formerly nonprofit Mission in 2019.
An HCA spokesperson confirmed that Mission submitted its application Wednesday.
AdventHealth, which operates a hospital in Hendersonville, proposes adding capacity to its new medical center in Weaverville. The Florida-based provider, which is affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, has already been approved to add 93 beds to the facility. But Mission has opposed the awarding of many of those beds, resulting in a years-long legal battle that is still making its way through the courts. At a recent community listening session, AdventHealth leaders faced heated questions from a Mission leader who was seated in the audience, The Asheville Watchdog reported.
AdventHealth North Carolina spokesperson Victoria Dunkle said in a statement that the new hospital “is positioned not only to meet the immediate needs of its service area but also to elevate the standard of care by evolving toward the capabilities of a tertiary care hospital.”
“Other applicants will be unable to develop a comparable proposal because none have secured prior approvals that are invested in phased growth or integrated into the market in a way that ensures timely and lasting benefits to residents,” she said.
UNC Health Pardee is seeking to build a new, 129-bed community hospital in Buncombe County. The health system currently operates a hospital in Hendersonville and is managed by Chapel Hill-based UNC Health. It says the new facility would be called UNC Health West Medical Center and would include “emergency care, labor and delivery services, in-patient acute care, and adult psychiatry services.”
“UNC Health West builds on UNC Health Pardee’s record of public service and proven experience and dedication to the western region and UNC Health’s commitment to the health and wellness of our state, resulting in increased access and improved care for the residents of Buncombe and surrounding counties,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
Finally, Winston-Salem-based Novant Health is also looking to build a new hospital. But unlike the other hospital systems, it is only applying for 34 out of the total 129 beds. (Applicants are not required to apply for the total, and the state can choose to divide the total number of beds among different applicants.)
The proposed Novant Health hospital would be located on Long Shoals Road in Asheville, down the road from the Biltmore Park shopping center.
“We remain deeply committed to extending high quality, compassionate care to Western North Carolina. Over the past year, we’ve worked closely with the community and local physicians to grow our specialty care network in the region and have applied for a 34-bed hospital in Buncombe County,” a Novant Health spokesperson said in a statement.
The state Department of Health and Human Services will begin reviewing the applications on November 1.
