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AdventHealth was recently selected to build a 67-bed hospital in the Candler area. Graham was pinpointed as 1-of-4 counties that would be included in the hospital’s coverage area.
Candler – AdventHealth was chosen over two contenders to build a 67-acute care bed hospital just west of Asheville in Buncombe County, for a hospital service area that includes Graham, Buncombe, Yancey and Madison counties.
Three companies filed applications stemming from a certificate of need with the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services to develop acute-care beds, in response to a need determination in the 2022 State Medical Facilities Plan. That need determination called for 67 acute-care beds in the Buncombe/Graham/Madison/Yancey, multi-county service area.
The other applicants were Novant Health, which proposed a 67-bed facility near downtown Asheville and Mission Health, which operates a 733-bed hospital in Asheville.
In order to be approved, a certificate of need application must be conforming or conditionally conforming with all applicable review criteria and rules.
“When two or more applications are part of a competitive review, the Agency reviews each application independently against the review criteria in the CON (Certificate of Need) Law and any applicable rules,” said Bailey Pennington Allison, a communications specialist with the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. “The Agency then conducts a comparative analysis of the applications to determine which application to approve.”
Novant’s application was ruled as not conforming to basic criteria, so only AdventHealth and Mission Health were considered.
AdventHealth has 35 days from Nov. 22 to accept or reject the decision. Other parties have until Dec. 22 to appeal.
AdventHealth proposes a new acute care hospital at Enka Center, off Smokey Park Highway and Sand Hill Road near Candler. The facility would be called AdventHealth Asheville and will have 67 acute-care beds, one dedicated C-section operating room, and five procedure rooms.
The project is expected to cost $254.1 million and would be completed in January 2025.
AdventHealth costs for the project cannot exceed 115 percent of the stated costs without first obtaining a new certificate of need.
During a public informational session in Graham County in July, AdventHealth company officials said the Enka Center location will be more convenient for Graham County residents and argued that proposals put forth by competitors would have put the new beds in or near downtown Asheville.
AdventHealth was the only one of the three contenders that held an informational session in Graham County.
Other contenders
Novant Health and Surgery Partners proposed a new acute care hospital in Asheville – Novant Health Asheville Medical Center – with 67 acute-care beds, one dedicated C-section operating room, and one operating room to be relocated from Outpatient Surgery Center of Asheville. The project was expected to cost $328.7 million and would be completed in January 2027.
The competitive review concluded that Novant Health failed to demonstrate that its proposal would not be unnecessary duplication or that its project maximizes healthcare value for the resources expended.
Mission Hospital proposed to add 67 acute-care beds to the main campus of its existing 733-bed hospital in Asheville, bringing the total to 800 beds.
The project was expected to cost $125 million.
Mission Hospital is owned by HCA Healthcare, a Nashville, Tenn.-based for-profit operator of health care facilities that was founded in 1968.
A public hearing was held Aug. 12 at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College Asheville Campus.
Service area
Graham County is involved because, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, the county lacks an acute-care hospital and is within the service area of a regional acute-care facility – the one in Asheville.
Neighboring Cherokee County also has an acute-care facility and is paired with Clay County – which does not, but for some reason Graham County was grouped with Madison and Yancey counties as part of Buncombe County’s acute-care service area.
The Cherokee County/Clay County pairing is served by Murphy Medical Center in Peachtree, with 57 beds and no need for additional beds.
The expanded need in Buncombe County is driven by that area’s growing population. Between 2010-20, Buncombe County grew from 238,318 residents to 269,452, a 13.1 percent growth rate. Graham County’s population shrank by more than 830 during that same period.
AdventHealth, formerly Adventist Health System, is a Christian faith-based, non-profit health care system headquartered in Altamonte Springs, Fla., that operates facilities within 12 states across the United States, including a full-service hospital in Hendersonville.
Novant Health is a four-state integrated network of physician clinics, outpatient centers and hospitals. Based in Winston-Salem, its network consists of more than 1,600 physicians and 29,000 employees at more than 640 locations, including 15 medical centers and hundreds of outpatient facilities and physician clinics.
The State Division of Health Service Regulation began reviewing applications on July 1 with a 30-day public comment period.