In the wake of submitting its certificate-of-need application on March 15, Kernersville (N.C.) Outpatient Surgery is facing opposition from three North Carolina competitors, including Greensboro-based Cone Health, Surgical Center of Greensboro and Greensboro Specialty Surgical Center as well as Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, according to Winston-Salem Journal.
Here are seven things to know:
1. The Kernersville ambulatory surgery center is projected to cost $9.8 million, and Novant Health is aiming to have the center operational in April 2018.
2. In the plan, Novant Health proposed moving two operating rooms from Winston-Salem-based Forsyth Medical Center to Kernersville Outpatient Surgery.
3. Cone Health, Surgical Center of Greensboro and Greensboro Specialty Surgical Center and Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center separately filed comments opposing the ASC's application, citing unnecessary duplication of services.
4. The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services required Novant Health to participate in a public hearing on May 12 because the center surpassed the $5 million threshold. The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services expects to have a decision about the ASC's CON by September 2016.
5. Cone Health said the center does not cite which surgical specialties it will offer or how many cases the surgeons will perform at the ASC. Novant Health had projected procedural charges of $10,529 in year one of the center, $10,950 in year two and $11,388 in year three, which Cone Health said "are higher than other, recently approved freestanding ambulatory surgical center CON applications by up to 50 percent."
6. The three healthcare groups all claim:
• Novant's CON does not support the need for adding two operating rooms in Kernersville.
• The project fails to "materially improve" access to ASC services as most of the potential patients live in Guilford, N.C., as opposed to Forsyth (N.C.).
• Novant's application does not take into consideration the availability of other similar services in the market.
• Kernersville Outpatient Surgery represents an unnecessary duplication of services.
• The ASC will adversely impact existing ASC providers.
7. Recently, High Point, N.C.-based Premier Surgery Center opened an ASC to serve patients in Kernersville. In April 2013, Wake Forest Baptist obtained state permission to build a $38.7 million surgery center off its main campus. However, the N.C. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from Novant concerning Wake Forest's facility.
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