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State rejects rehabilitation center for Concord

By Ben McNeely | Media General

Published: January 8, 2009

Concord - The state has rejected a proposed rehabilitation hospital planned for Concord.
Carolinas HealthCare System and Stanly Regional Medical Center submitted an application to build a 40-bed, $25 million facility. State regulators said in a decision issued late December that CHS did not adequately show a need for the facility and did not show its cost-effectiveness.
"Our rationale was to duplicate the success we've had with Carolinas Rehabilitation-Mount Holly," said CHS spokesman Kevin McCarthy. "We're reviewing the decision now to determine our course of action."
The proposed 55,000-square-foot facility would pull beds from Stanly Regional Medical Center in Albemarle, Carolinas Rehabilitation in Charlotte and CMC-Mercy.
The idea, McCarthy said, is to bring rehab services to residents near where they live. The Mount Holly hospital serves residents in Gaston, Lincoln and Cleveland counties.
The Concord hospital would serve residents in Cabarrus, Rowan and Stanly counties, McCarthy said.
CHS' competitor in the Charlotte metro region, Novant Health, opposed the hospital plan.
"As a normal part of the certificate of need review process prescribed in the statute, Novant did choose to file comments in opposition to the Carolinas Medical Center proposal for a new 40-bed inpatient rehabilitation hospital," spokeswoman Marcia Meredith said, in a statement. "Novant did not file a competing rehabilitation bed CON application, when CMC filed their CON application."
Novant does have rehabilitation centers in Charlotte and Matthews, but not in the Concord area.
CHS and Novant have ongoing cases with state regulators over a proposed 50-bed community hospital Novant wanted and a freestanding emergency department that CHS wanted. Both systems chose Kannapolis for their respective projects — each within a half-mile of the other.
CHS also has a strategic partnership with Stanly Regional. The two entities co-manage Stanly Regional West, a medical plaza in Locust that offers primary and specialty care.
• Contact reporter Ben McNeely: 704-789-9131
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