A health care regulatory board in Georgia unanimously approved a rule change Thursday to prevent out-of-state providers from appealing state-approved projects such as the stalled CHI Memorial Georgia hospital in Catoosa County.
State regulators in April granted CHI Memorial a certificate of need, which is akin to a permit, to relocate its current North Georgia hospital in Fort Oglethorpe by building a more than $100 million replacement more than five miles east in Ringgold. But that certificate was effectively suspended in May when Chattanooga-based Parkridge Health submitted an appeal on the basis that Parkridge offers “substantially similar services” just over the state line in Tennessee.
Parkridge’s appeal prompted a significant backlash among some North Georgia residents and elected officials, who said providers from other states shouldn’t have a say in whether a health care facility is built in Georgia, even if they provide similar services within a 35-mile range — a threshold that providers must meet in order to appeal such projects.
“CHI Memorial is thrilled that the board has gone on record confirming what we all knew was the case — that an out-of-state entity should not be able to stop an approved CON project,” Andrew McGill, CHI Memorial’s chief strategist, said in a phone interview.
A hearing officer is set to review Parkridge’s appeal sometime in mid- to late-November, and McGill said he’s hopeful the board will take the latest rule change into account and dismiss the appeal based on lack of standing. But until that opinion is issued or Parkridge drops the appeal, groundbreaking for the North Georgia hospital is on hold.