Readers will recall that Atrium Wake Forest Baptist advanced a proposal to build a small hospital on Horse Pen Creek Road in Greensboro. This proposal was approved by the state according to the Triad Business Journal.
This is great news because Greensboro has lacked real hospital competition for nearly thirty years ever since Cone Health took over Wesley Long Hospital.
Cone Health is already making a bit of a fuss pointing out that Atrium is seeking profit with the location it had selected which is an affluent area. Their people– and local elected officials– had previously pointed out this should have been located in a more underserved area like east Greensboro. However, they all should know that hospital systems will be less likely to build facilities in areas with high levels of Medicaid penetration because it is much more difficult to make things work financially.
Cone can still appeal. Atrium Wake Forest Baptist likely will still have to secure zoning approvals from the city; and as noted above, they might run into some wrongheaded resistance from our corrupt local elected officials who appear to be “in bed” with Cone.
Once again, Atrium is not stellar. It behaved like nearly all other hospital systems during the pandemic
But the state granting the Certificate of Need is excellent news because choice and competition is needed in Greensboro and northern Guilford County.
Competition is good . Let’s hope the Council approves it and don’t let Cone bully them.
I think Nancy Vaughan was the one who said Atrium should put it in east Greensboro which is an absolutely ridiculous suggestion. Who is going to make that kind of investment in an almost exclusively charity care area, where a huge percentage of the patients with insurance are on Medicaid? Ridiculous.
It will, indeed, be interesting to see what they do, Fred. There is still an appeals process at the state level, Fred; but if the city council stops this project, it will illustrate that they are captured by special interests. Smarmy comments about Cone– the local hospital chain– do not alleviate the absolute need for choice and competition.