Walla Walla (Wash.) Clinic and Walla Walla-based Providence St. Mary Medical Center requested certificates of need to expand their ambulatory surgery services, and residents can have a say in the matter, Union-Bulletin.com reports.
Here are four insights:
1. A public hearing for community input on the requests is scheduled for Aug. 20. A decision on how to proceed will be issued Oct. 19.
2. The clinic and the hospital moved to expand outpatient surgical services after Walla Walla General Hospital closed in 2017.
3. Providence bought the former hospital with plans to convert it into a $3.7 million multiuse outpatient facility with primary care, an ASC, urgent care and other services. The ASC would feature two operating rooms and two endoscopy procedure rooms.
Providence is awaiting the state Department of Health's decision on the CON.
4. Under Walla Walla Clinic's proposal, the Tietan Street clinic in Walla Walla — which accommodates about 2,400 surgeries annually — would allow community surgeons to work in its same-day surgery facility. The facility could perform an additional 1,000 surgeries each year if community surgeons are permitted to use the space.
The clinic's plan would involve converting its existing three-OR ASC into one with a CON for an estimated $175,000.