The West Virginia Health Authority said Certificate of Need applications by Mon Heath System and WVU Health System to build separate full-service hospitals in Marion County are complete.
The next step for the two local health systems is to go through the approval process.
WVU Medicine submitted two CONs with the state. The first application is for construction of a 25-bed, full-service hospital. The $35.3 million hospital would be constructed next to its Urgent Care Center in Fairmont and would serve as a campus and department of J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital, WVU Medicine’s primary hospital.
The second WVU CON with the state is for the development of a 10-bed hospital in the former Fairmont Regional Medical Center, which closed last month because of financial problems. This $8.79 million project will also serve as an arm of Ruby.
“Having the application declared complete is just one step in the process of the Health Care Authority’s review,” said a WVU Medicine spokesperson via email. The application being declared complete means that the Health Care Authority’s staff reviewed the application to determine that all the necessary components are in the application, it does not mean anything with respect to whether the project will be approved.
“The CON application is now in the 30-day period in which any affected party can request a hearing on the application. If there is no hearing request, the Health Care Authority will render its decision as to whether the project is approved or not, based on the merits and standards set by the authority. If there is a hearing request, we’ll obviously move into the hearing process under the CON law.”
A CON is a legal document required in many states before proposed acquisitions, expansions, or creations of health care facilities are allowed. CONs are issued by a federal or state regulatory agency with authority over an area to affirm that the plan is required to fulfill the needs of a community. Fairmont Regional was the only full-service hospital in Marion County.
Mon Health, meanwhile, is seeking approval from the state to construct a 10-bed hospital on property it owns along Interstate 79 in Pleasant Valley. The hospital would include an emergency room, along with diagnostic and support service of an acute-care hospital.
“What happened is the state deemed our application complete,” said David Goldberg, CEO of Mon Health.
“Now we move on to the next level.”
The three hospital projects, combined, will add 45 beds to Marion County. By comparison, Fairmont Regional had 207 beds.
When asked if it would make more sense to partner with WVU Medicine and build a larger hospital, Goldberg did not rule out the idea as long as the community’s health care needs are addressed.
Stephen Foreman, professor of Health Care Administration at Robert Morris University, said competing hospitals in Fairmont could result in a battle for patients.
“It looks like competition continues everywhere, even in smaller communities,” Foreman said in an email.
“Generally, larger facilities and systems use smaller hospitals as feeders — patients from smaller communities are transferred to tertiary care providers through the small local hospital.”
Foreman also said most small hospitals in the U.S. are in trouble financially and medically. And there is less of a need for hospital beds.
“Will WVU and Mon Health subsidize the new hospitals?” he asked. “Will the competition drive up costs and provide inefficiency? Maybe.”
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