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Hospital Reps Face Questions: State Regulators Get 1st Shot at Officials From 4 Who Want to Build in York County

Posted on: Friday, 24 March 2006, 06:00 CST

By Nichole Monroe Bell, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

Mar. 24--COLUMBIA -- After more than a year of courting York County residents, the four suitors that want to build a Fort Mill hospital faced their toughest audience yet: the state regulators responsible for choosing which company will win.

Carolinas HealthCare System, Hospital Partners of America and Presbyterian Healthcare, all based in Charlotte, and the parent of Rock Hill's Piedmont Medical Center each are fighting to capture patients in one of the region's fastest-growing areas. They all agree that thousands of people leave York County each year for hospitals in Charlotte. And they all made the case Thursday why they deserve a coveted state-certificate to operate in the county's northern tier.

S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control officials questioned whether it was appropriate for Carolinas HealthCare to operate across state lines; whether Hospital Partners had enough community ties; whether Presbyterian would build an urgent-care facility in western York County; and whether Piedmont parent Texas-based Tenet Healthcare was stable enough financially to build.

DHEC staffer Mary Fechtel asked whether, in addition to building the Fort Mill hospital, any of the companies would build an urgent-care facility in western York County even if it lost.

Presbyterian and Hospital Partners have both said they will build an urgent-care facility in western York County if they win. Both companies told the Observer last fall that they wouldn't build if they lost.

Presbyterian CEO Carl Armato was less committal Thursday. He responded to Fechtel by saying he was confident the hospital would win.

"I believe it's going to show how we take some of the profit from (the hospital) and turn it back into the community," he said.

The answer didn't satisfy Fechtel.

"I hear what you're saying, but this (hospital application) is going to be going on for years if it's appealed," she said to Armato. "Are these people going to be waiting for years?"

Armato said that if Presbyterian wins, it will begin building even if the decision is appealed. He didn't say what the company would do if it wasn't chosen to begin with. Fechtel let the matter drop, though.

Earlier during the three-hour meeting, other hospital officials were also put on the spot.

Hospital Partners, for example, focused on bringing a "new local choice" to the area. The company has facilities in California and Texas, but none in the Charlotte region.

DHEC officials questioned Hospital Partners' ties to the community and relationships with local doctors. They asked whether local doctors would be involved or whether physicians from Texas would be brought in. Company officials said they are developing local doctor ties, and plan to give doctors 49 percent ownership in the limited-liability corporation that would run its Fort Mill hospital.

Carolinas HealthCare System focused on its experience building community hospitals across the region. DHEC staffer Les Shelton asked the company to respond to Hospital Partners' argument that it is appropriate for CHS, as a North Carolina-based governmental hospital authority, to operate across state lines. Shelton also questioned why the company's proposal featured a hospital significantly smaller in size than the others.

Hospital officials said no law prevents it from operating in South Carolina. And they said smaller hospital buildings are often better because they cost less to maintain and clean -- important at a time when health-care costs are soaring.

"It's imperative health-care institutions start trying to control that cost," CHS senior vice president Dennis Phillips said.

Piedmont Medical Center's pitch focused on its existing ties to York County and an agreement with the county to hold down charges and to open its financial records to the public, even though it is a private company.

But DHEC's Shelton asked the company to respond to accusations that the hospital's parent company, Tenet Healthcare, is financially unstable. The parent company has been charged millions of dollars to settle a federal class-action securities lawsuit and is embroiled in other legal troubles. It also faces a financial blow from the damage Hurricane Katrina wrought on several of its hospitals across the South.

Piedmont President and CEO Charlie Miller spoke to reassure DHEC: "Tenet is very committed to this project."

What 's Next?

State officials don't expect to make a decision until May. An appeal, which is likely, could stretch for years, delaying construction.

Nichole Monroe Bell: (803) 327-8511

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

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Source: The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)

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