CaroMont to build second hospital in Gaston County, invest $325 million total
CaroMont Health plans to open a second hospital in Gaston County, add 50 additional rooms to its CaroMont Regional Medical Center campus and build several other medical office buildings in the county within the next five years, health system President and CEO Chris Peek announced Friday.
The $325 million capital investment may be the largest single venture by a single employer in Gaston County's history, and certainly the most significant financial stake in the history of CaroMont Health.
"CaroMont Health has provided life-changing and life-saving medical care to the citizens of Gaston County for nearly 75 years,” said Peek. “This investment is a reflection of our unwavering commitment to this community and the thousands of patients who trust us to care for them.”
But the deal has a much greater potential than to just provide additional health care options and create new jobs. Through a partnership with Belmont Abbey College, CaroMont Health will help strengthen health science offerings at the county's only four-year college. Such a large endeavor will attract support businesses and new investors into the area seen as the gateway into Gaston County.
Here's what Peek has told The Gaston Gazette so far:
THE PLANS
• CaroMont Health will spend about $173 million building a second hospital in Belmont, adjacent to the Belmont Abbey College campus.
This hospital will have 60 to 80 beds and serve the growing eastern part of Gaston County, while relieving some of the demand for beds at CaroMont Regional Medical Center in Gastonia.
The new hospital will be built near the crossing of N.C. 273 and Interstate 85, close to the athletic fields on the Belmont Abbey College campus. CaroMont Health will enter into a long-term lease for the land with Belmont Abbey, which owns the property.
While not all plans are complete, CaroMont Regional Medical Center-Belmont would be expected to offer an emergency department, inpatient units for those patients requiring admission or observation, a labor and delivery unit and a full complement of diagnostic services including laboratory and imaging.
CaroMont Health has not yet determined how many new employees it will need to hire to staff a new hospital.
Pending state approval, the county's second hospital could open as soon as 2023.
• CaroMont Health will spend $70 million to construct a second patient tower on its main hospital campus, adding 50 beds for "critical care" patients. CaroMont Regional Medical Center currently has 435 beds.
The additional rooms could be ready for patients by 2022, but will also need approval from state healthcare regulators.
• CaroMont Health will spend an additional $82 million on the construction and renovation of medical office buildings. Those plans include a 22,000-square-foot family medicine practice in Cramerton expected to open later this year.
• CaroMont Health will also build a new family medicine practice in Bessemer City, which will open this summer.
Still in development are plans for medical office buildings on and around the main hospital campus.
Hospital officials say financial plans for the projects are still being worked out, but that the expenditure will not result in an increase to patient costs.
WHY EXPAND?
CaroMont Regional Medical Center has almost 250,000 patient encounters every year, with a steady increase in numbers over the last several years, Peek said.
"Coupled with the projected growth of our community and the advancing age of our patient population, the need for hospital-based care continues to rise," Peek said. "The construction of a second hospital in Belmont will extend our clinical network to better serve communities in the eastern part of Gaston County, and the expansion of critical care services at CaroMont Regional Medical Center will firmly establish the main hospital as a central hub for advanced medical and surgical care in our region.”
BELMONT ABBEY
CaroMont Health would not only lease the land from Belmont Abbey, the founder and sponsor of Belmont Abbey College, but would also support Belmont Abbey College’s future establishment of a health sciences program.
“The monks of Belmont Abbey happily welcome this exciting opportunity for Belmont Abbey College and CaroMont Health to combine our shared values and cooperate in promoting the welfare of our Gaston County community and its future growth and prosperity," said Abbot Placid Solari, O.S.B., of the Belmont Abbey monastic community.
“Bringing together two remarkable and storied institutions, the partnership between CaroMont Health, a leading healthcare provider, and Belmont Abbey College, a leading institution of higher education, is a game changer for the region and beyond,” said Dr. Bill Thierfelder, president of Belmont Abbey College. “We are excited about the opportunity to collaborate with CaroMont Health to provide the highest levels of medical care and academic excellence.”
WHAT'S NEXT?
The allocation of health care services is guided by the North Carolina State Medical Facilities Plan, a document prepared annually at the direction of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Division of Health Service Regulation and the North Carolina State Health Coordinating Council.
In mid-August, CaroMont Health will seek to obtain the Certificate of Need required to build and open the new hospital, and will also pursue the necessary regulatory approval to reallocate and add critical care beds to the main campus.
Health care providers in Charlotte could oppose CaroMont Health's plans. That could delay or possibly even prevent CaroMont Health from moving forward.
CaroMont Health should know if the state approves of its plans by January. Other health care providers would then have through March to appeal the decision.