Atrium, Novant compete to add hospital beds in Mecklenburg. NC will have final say.
Charlotte’s largest hospital systems are competing over adding new acute care beds in Mecklenburg County and the public has a chance to weigh in next month.
Atrium Health and Novant Health have proposed a total of four projects to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. The proposals are in response to a need laid out in the 2022 State Medical Facilities Plan for 65 acute care beds in the county.
One of the projects would include adding nearly 40 beds to a new tower at Atrium’s flagship campus in Charlotte.
Novant Health proposed one project developing 30 additional acute care beds at its existing hospital in Charlotte, Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center. The cost would be $110,000 and, if approved, is expected to be completed by September 2023.
The hospital submitted the application for additional beds after reviewing increases in inpatient volumes as well as projections in population growth in the Charlotte area, Novant said in an email to The Charlotte Observer.
The hospital system wants to be able to accommodate those numbers and be able to respond to surges in demand.
Atrium proposed four projects developing 65 additional acute care beds, costing a total of $78.9 million.
The proposals include 11 additional beds in Pineville, 38 additional beds at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte and 16 beds at Atrium Health University City. The Pineville project would be completed in January 2025; Carolinas Medical Center in April 2027 and the University City project in June 2025.
The three Atrium hospitals are operating at or above capacity and need the additional bed capacity to meet demand for inpatient services as the population continues to grow, Atrium Health spokesman Dan Fogleman said in an email to the Observer.
The 38 requested beds at Carolinas Medical Center are slated for a new patient tower the system plans to build at its flagship campus, according to Fogleman.
How to comment on Atrium, Novant plans
In dueling applications like this, the DHHS could approve either of the hospital systems’ applications or portions of both, but not both in full, The Charlotte Observer has previously reported.
DHHS will be holding a public hearing for the projects on Dec. 16 at 10 a.m. in Room 270 of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center before it makes a final decision.
Written comments can be submitted until Dec. 1. They can be emailed to DHSR.CON.Comments@dhhs.nc.gov. Comments can also be mailed to Healthcare Planning and Certificate of Need Section, Division of Health Service Regulation, 2704 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-2704.
DHHS said in a statement it does not comment on competing applications.
This story was originally published November 14, 2022 at 1:55 PM with the headline "Atrium, Novant compete to add hospital beds in Mecklenburg. NC will have final say.."
