Residents will have a chance Nov. 10 to comment on Carolinas Medical Center-NorthEast’s plans for two major projects ó one in Concord and the other in Salisbury.
Officials with the N.C. Division of Health Service Regulation in Raleigh said Friday that they have received applications from CMC-NorthEast, and its parent company, Carolinas Healthcare System, for:
– A $264.4 million expansion of its home complex, including a new eight-floor patient tower and the addition of a second story to its surgery center.
– A new $3.4 million diagnostic center, dubbed Southern Piedmont Imaging, on West Jake Alexander Boulevard in Salisbury.
This project is sure to draw the ire of Novant Health, which owns Rowan Regional Medical Center and is Carolinas Healthcare System’s chief rival in the region.
State officials have scheduled a hearing on both CMC-NorthEast requests for 1 p.m. Nov. 10, a Monday, at Kannapolis Town Hall and Train Station, 201 S. Main St., Kannapolis.
Residents also can send written comments on the projects, but the state must get them by Oct. 31 to consider them.
Mail comments to Certificate of Need Section, Division of Health Service Regulation, 2704 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-2704.
The larger project on CMC-NorthEast’s main campus includes 424,950 square feet of new construction and 79,140 square feet of renovations and is projected to cost $264 million. But it does not propose any additional new beds at the Concord center.
The new patient tower will house cardiac, maternity, oncology, interventional radiology and nuclear medicine, renal (kidney) and general medical/surgical beds.
Additionally, renovations are proposed to the first and second floors of the Mariam Cannon Hayes Family Center to house neurosciences, general medical/surgical and observation units.
NorthEast officials say they expect a state decision on the certificate of need application by the end of February. With anticipated approval, the first phase ó the second-floor addition to the surgery center ó is projected to be open in January 2011.
Phase two ó the eight-story tower ó is targeted for opening in mid-2013, and renovation of the Mariam Cannon Hayes Center for January 2014.
The proposed Salisbury project would be a free-standing diagnostic center in Pinnacle Office Park, 340 W. Jake Alexander Blvd. The application with the state calls for CT, X-ray and digital mammography services. If approved by the state, the diagnostic center would be open by Jan. 1, 2011.