FirstHealth of the Carolinas, allied with a group of local physicians, has proposed building an outpatient surgery center on the campus of Moore Regional Hospital in Pinehurst. The Pinehurst Surgical Clinic wants to build a surgery center as part of its planned new offices on U.S. 15-501 in Southern Pines.
A group of Lee County physicians and Central Carolina Hospital in Sanford are seeking permission to build a surgery center in Sanford.
All three groups have filed applications for certificates of need with the state Division of Facility Services, which held a public hearing at Sandhills Community College.
Andrea Phillips and Judith Egan, project analysts for the Certificate of Need Section, said that a decision would be made no later than Jan. 28. They oversaw the public hearing.
The 2003 State Medical Facilities Plan calls for six additional outpatient operating rooms in a six-county area that includes Moore, Lee, Hoke, Richmond, Scotland and Montgomery counties.
FirstHealth and the independent physicians filed their application under the name Surgery Center of Pinehurst. The plan includes four operating rooms. The Pinehurst Surgical Clinic’s surgery center would operate under the name SameDay Surgery Center. It will have three operating rooms.
The Lee County application, under the name Central Carolina Ambulatory Surgery Center, would have two operating rooms.
Former Partners
An ambulatory surgery center is where patients have operations that don’t require hospitalization.
Last year, FirstHealth partnered with the Pinehurst Surgical Clinic in a venture called also SameDay Surgery Center in seeking state permission to build a $7.4 million surgery center near the hospital. The state denied that request on the basis that center would not be inclusive enough, according to FirstHealth. The state also rejected another application by HealthSouth and a group of local physicians.
This year, FirstHealth and the Surgical Clinic have gone their separate ways. Most of the 2½-hour public hearing, held in Owens Auditorium, was spent with the two sides highlighting the differences between their two proposals.
The Surgery Center of Pinehurst (the FirstHealth and physician partners entry) is a $4 million to $5 million, 12,000- to 14,000-square-foot facility on Memorial Drive across from Moore Regional Hospital.
The SameDay Surgery Center is a $4.99 million, 12,500-square-foot facility that would be built on U.S. 15-501 across from Pinecrest High School in Southern Pines. The Pinehurst Surgical Clinic wants to build the center as part of a $20 million medical complex to be completed by July 2005. The clinic plans to build the new offices regardless of whether the state approves its surgery center.
The Pinehurst Surgical Clinic has outgrown its current offices near the hospital. Those offices are to be put up for sale.
Charles Frock, president and CEO of FirstHealth of the Carolinas; Dr. Walter Fasolak, an obstetrician/gynecologist in Moore County; Dr. Michael Bartiss, a pediatric eye surgeon in Moore County; and Tommy Phillips, chairman of the board of FirstHealth of the Carolinas, spoke for the Surgery Center of Pinehurst.
They believe their center would better serve the people of the area because it would partner with the hospital and be closer to the hospital in case patients need to be hospitalized.
“More than 3,500 outpatient surgical procedures are performed annually at Moore Regional,” Bartiss said. “Of those only 35 or so require transfer. A small percentage, but if it’s you, it’s 100 percent.”
They also said 4 percent of the revenue generated would go to charity care, while the Pinehurst Surgical Clinic’s proposed center would be about 1 percent.
In addition, they said the proposed Surgery Center of Pinehurst would be more inclusive than the surgical clinic’s proposed center. Any community surgeon can perform surgeries at the FirstHealth center, they said, and any community surgeon can become an equity owner.
Drs. John Krahnert and William Johnstone spoke for the SameDay Surgery Center. They said that a freestanding center is needed and that the competition would be good for the medical community.
“You’re going from a congested large system environment to easy access,” Johnstone said, noting also that the complex would be expandable.
He also said that the SameDay Surgery Center would be open to other surgeons. And the complex would be a place where patients can see a doctor, have tests done and get surgery — all within the same place.
Supplementary Comments
After the public comments, each side got to respond. Stuart Voelpel, senior vice president of FirstHealth, spoke for the Surgery Center of Pinehurst.
He said there is nothing to be gained by having everything under one roof. Patients will still be making several appointments, he said, and other surgeons would not go to a competitor to perform surgeries.
“It doesn’t pass the smell test,” Voelpel said.
Dr. Carl Berk, speaking for the SameDay Surgery Center, said the time in ambulance rides to the hospital from across the street or U.S. 15-501 would be negligible, because most of the time is preparation time.
