Update on Hospital Status

The last couple of years have been a full on battle with little payoff in the fight for the right to build a hospital in Fort Mill. Follow this timeline...

• March 31, 2014: Judge Phillip Lenski gave PMC the required certificate of need, ruling that if Carolinas HealthCare built a Fort Mill hospital it would adversely affect the Rock Hill hospital and other independent physicians in York County financially and affect the quality of medical care offered. 

• April 9, 2014: Carolinas HealthCare asked Lenski to reconsider his decision.

• May 21, 2015: Lenski vacated his order giving PMC permission to build, pending a decision on Carolinas HealthCare’s request. Vacating his order means it no longer exists, said Debra Gammons, a professor at the Charleston School Law, and Rock Hill lawyer Dan Ballou. Gammons said vacating the order was an unusual step and that neither Carolinas HealthCare nor PMC has the state’s approval to build a Fort Mill hospital.

• December 15, 2014: The S.C. Administrative Law Court filed an amended final order that awarded a certificate of need for the long-discussed hospital to Piedmont Medical.

• February, 2015: 

S.C. Administrative Law Judge Phillip Lenski granted Carolinas HealthCare System a stay that would block Piedmont Medical Center from beginning construction of its planned hospital. 

Two days later, Lenski issued an order vacating that ruling because Piedmont's response objecting to that stay was "apparently misrouted to another judge on the Administrative Law Court." 

The order for a stay is vacated pending further review by the court.

• March 17, 2015:

Carolinas HealthCare System filed a motion requesting relief from the bond requirement and issuing a stay to prevent Piedmont Medical Center from building a Fort Mill hospital while the matter is being litigated. 

Carolinas HealthCare System argues the Legislature overstepped its authority when it required companies appealing a certificate-of-need decision to post a bond before a case can be heard by the state Court of Appeals. Carolinas HealthCare System said the bond requirement is unconstitutional under federal and state law and that under the current legislation, “there is no right for judicial review; rather, judicial review is a legislatively created privilege available to those who are able and willing to purchase it.”

The legislative requirement interferes with the state court’s constitutional authority to set its own rules, Carolinas HealthCare System attorneys said in filings last month with the state Court of Appeals. The court system has its own procedures covering appeal bonds that gives the appellate court “considerable discretion” in determining whether a bond is appropriate, Carolinas HealthCare System argued.

Read more here: http://www.heraldonline.com/news/business/article17132180.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article9123608.html#storylink=cpy

New site for all Fort Mill Information

There is a new website for information about what is happening in Fort Mill, SC.  It is "Fort Mill, SC Your Guide:" (http://fortmillinfo.com/) and it focuses on new Residential Developments, new Businesses, News, and Events happening in Fort Mill.

Their information is culled from public records, press releases, news articles, and various other sources and gives you the facts.

Click on over and check it out.

If CON is not required and rumors

I have heard opinions, rumors, and such over the past several months. Today's news adds another wrinkle into Piedmont's plan to stop the green giant, or at least to keep quality healthcare out of York County. 

...last week, Gov. Nikki Haley vetoed – and the House sustained – the $1.7 million DHEC spends to enforce the state’s certificate of need law. On Friday, DHEC director Catherine Templeton – who was once on the governor’s short list to replace former U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint – officially suspended the program, telling hospitals and nursing homes they could do whatever they want. In a letter, Templeton promised not to penalize health care providers who expand while the program is suspended “unless instructed otherwise by the General Assembly.”

That letter has caused confusion among some of the state’s largest health care providers who are locked in expensive disputes over various pending projects.

This ruling could eliminate the need for the CON and halt all legal challenges associated with the CON. 

Here is a roadmap for how things were projected to flow. If CMC wins the court ruling, PMC will challenge and post a bond as required to cover CMC's court and delay expenses. That bond and subsequent challenge will keep CMC out of York County for a couple years. If PMC still loses, then we might see Tenent sell because they will not survive against CMC. 

If the CON is no longer needed, then CMC is allowed to build and PMC and Presby can build too. The big BUT is that PMC could not survive, even with 2 hospitals. The death nail would happen if Presby and CMC both build hospitals, which could happen...but maybe Presby would look at PMC as soon having a fire sale and then buy that facility. 

This all is speculation, of course. If the CON is really dead, then expect quick action by CMC to start building.

Related Article: http://www.thestate.com/2013/07/01/2843588/dhec-asks-state-supreme-court.html

This 

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2013/07/01/2843588/dhec-asks-state-supreme-court.html#storylink=cpy

Presby drops out of legal challenge

After years of fighting, Presbyterian Hospital has dropped the legal challenge over the CON that CMC was awarded.

“We continue to believe that Presbyterian Hospital Fort Mill would provide the best access to remarkable care at an affordable price,” Armato’s memo states. “However, we also believe it is in the best interest of the people of York County to withdraw our opposition. Hopefully, our actions will allow the growing community to move forward more quickly with a much-needed hospital.”

To serve the needs of Fort Mill and to make the most Financial sense, I believe only Presby and CMC should have been the only health systems in this fight to start with. I do not believe that the CON will be overturned again and it was a smart move for Presby to win some respect before the final word is announced in April.

Read the entire story here: http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2013/02/01/presby-drops-fight-over-fort-mill.html

Tenet Announces Legal Appeal

The DHEC appeal was denied yesterday and today the Charlotte Observer has this:

Tenet Healthcare Corp. said Thursday it will appeal a decision by S.C. regulators that allows Carolinas HealthCare System to build the first hospital in northern York County. Tenet runs Piedmont Medical Center in Rock Hill.

Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/10/14/2690159/fort-mill-hospital-battle-heads.html#ixzz1alV7ybdS

The Charlotte Observer also says that Novant has not said anything about a legal appeal. I predict Novant will definitely file a legal appeal, after all Piedmont is a sore loser, so join in on the public hatred that goes into delaying a hospital being built in Fort Mill.

Reactions 1st Appeals

At this point, the news is all a buzz in Fort Mill.  Most want this to hospital mess to be over. Most believed the first go-a-round was a mess with back-door deals between Piedmont and York County and with York County and DHEC. A lot of people were relieved that someone other than Piedmont might actually win this time.

People want this to be over and they want CMC to move on with the building process.  Don't take my word for it, read it for your self.  Actually, what you will read (if you research the subject like I have) is that people really, really do not like Piedmont Medical Center.  Yes there are a couple fan boys out there for Tenet, but only a few.

The following are actual user comments from the Rock Hill Herald:

I hope Piedmont is listening. It is obvious how unpopular they are and how much we want an alternative to their money grubbing, lousy treatment. Go CMC! I have experience at both places and CMC is heads above Piedmont in every respect.

hithere: http://www.heraldonline.com/2011/10/13/3442320/dhec-board-decides-not-to-hear.html#ixzz1agR1xGN6

This puts us one step closer to having CMC in Fort Mill. Now if PMC and Presbyterian would just get the message CMC can break ground and get on with building our hospital.

terrimcook: http://www.heraldonline.com/2011/10/13/3442320/dhec-board-decides-not-to-hear.html#ixzz1agRGzwEE

"Both hospitals are expected to appeal to an administrative law judge."
Give it up Charlie, you and Tenet are grasping at straws, let it go, no one wants PMC to build.

petey1981: http://www.heraldonline.com/2011/10/13/3442320/dhec-board-decides-not-to-hear.html#ixzz1agS1ib1q

Most comments include statements similar to Piedmont needs to do a better job of patient care at their hospital before trying to build a new one.  To site past stories, a suggestion by an expert said that stigmas, like Piedmont, need to take a close look at who is running the hospital and they probably need to make some changes. (If you try to find the story at the Rock Hill Herald now, you will find the line "It points to management and patient care problems"completely absent from the online article now.)


Piedmont and Tenet need to put the money for an appeal into hiring better staff, training existing staff that need training, and improving PMC. I believe the same thing that most people believe, fix your own hospital before trying to build another. I didn't see the names of any other Tenet Hospitals on the list of the worst outcomes as reported by Medicare.

SC DHEC Will Not Hear Appeal

Just before noon, SC DHEC decided they would not hear the appeal on the Carolina's Medical Center - Fort Mill ruling. Appeals were filed by both Presbyterian and Piedmont Medical Center after CMC was awarded the Certificate of Need for the future Fort Mill Hospital.

While this is good new for Fort Mill residents, the seemingly intentional delays by both Presbyterian (Novant) and Piedmont Medical Center (Tenet) are predicted to drag on.  Both Presbyterian and Piedmont Medical Center have 30 days to appeal the decision to the South Carolina Administrative Law Court.

Everyone expects Tenet to appeal based on their past behavior. If Tenet appeals as expected, Novant will most likely appeal too.

The next appeals deadline would be November 12th, 2011, but that may get moved from Saturday to Monday the 14th.

Without further appeals, Fort Mill will have its first hospital in about 2 1/2 years.

News stories about the announcement:
Charlotte Observer
Rock Hill Herald