A Franklin County Circuit judge denied Cincinnati-based Christ Hospital's certificate of need application for a $20 million surgery center, which was to be built in a former hotel, according to The River City News.
Here are four things to know:
1. Christ Hospital aimed to convert a former Drawbridge Inn in Ft. Mitchell, Ky., into a surgery center, a plan that St. Elizabeth Healthcare challenged. St. Elizabeth currently provides healthcare to the area of Northern Kentucky where the surgery center would be located.
2. After receiving the CON denial, Christ Hospital issued a news release stating Northern Kentucky residents had limited access to healthcare and felt the surgery center would fill that gap. The ASC would have anchored a development that planned to include a hotel, restaurants and retail space in addition to residential units.
3. The hospital still hopes to bring additional healthcare options to Northern Kentucky, "notwithstanding the efforts of others to limit competition," The Christ Hospital CEO Mike Keating told River City News.
4. Christ Hospital currently has an outpatient center in Ft. Wright, and St. Elizabeth felt the area already had enough surgery centers.