Healthcare rivalry heats up in Charlotte area with plans for two new hospitals

Charlotte’s two largest hospitals systems announced on Tuesday plans to each build another hospital in the metro area, citing rapid population growth across the region.

They intend to spend an estimated $283.5 million on the projects.

Atrium Health said it is seeking to build a $116 million hospital and $13.5 million medical office in western Union County, a project it estimates to be completed in early 2022. Rival Novant Health said it plans to build a $154 million hospital in Ballantyne that is expected to open in 2023.

The systems said they are awaiting approvals from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, with which they filed applications on Monday.

Charlotte-based Atrium said in a press release that its new campus would be at Independence Boulevard and Stallings Road in Stallings. That’s a fast-growing area of Union County near the Mecklenburg County line.

The campus would be an extension of the system’s existing hospital in Monroe, Atrium said, and is part of the system’s “continuing efforts to address the accelerated community growth seen in this area.”

Atrium Health Union West would be an approximately 150,000-square-foot facility and include 40 licensed acute care beds; six labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum rooms; four intensive care units; 10 emergency department bays; two operating rooms; and a helipad, according to a webpage for the proposed hospital.

In addition to the hospital, Atrium said it plans to build a 40,000-square-foot medical office building at the site to house physician practices, including cardiology, oncology, obstetrics, pulmonology, surgery, pediatric specialties and internal medicine.

The hospital and medical office is expected to cost combined approximately $129.5 million, including construction and land, according to Atrium spokespeople.

It would enlarge the biggest hospital system in the Carolinas. Across the metro area, Atrium already owns 11 hospitals, in addition to Levine Children’s Hospital and its behavioral health hospitals. It also manages or has affiliations with hospitals across the Carolinas.

This year, Atrium changed its name from Carolinas HealthCare System, a reflection of its growing footprint and push to get bigger.

In February, it announced plans to combine with Georgia-based health care system Navicent. That deal is pending. And in March, a proposed combination with Chapel Hill’s UNC Health Care fell apart over questions about control of the joined system.

Before building their respective hospitals, Atrium and Novant must obtain what is known as a certificate of need from the state health department.

Novant’s plans

Atrium’s new hospital could compete with a hospital Novant opened this month in Mint Hill, about 10 miles north of Stallings. Novant said the $125 million, 145,000-square-foot hospital includes 46 beds.

In the Charlotte region, Winston-Salem-based Novant is the second-largest hospital system and a nonprofit like Atrium.

Novant said its Ballantyne hospital is planned for Marvin Road and Highway 521.

The roughly 161,000-square-foot facility will cost $154 million to build and have 36 beds and two operating rooms, among other features, the system said.

Novant’s closest hospital to Ballantyne is in Matthews, said Dr. Andy Mueller, Novant Charlotte market president.

Ballantyne has seen tremendous growth, which has increased the need for health care services in that area, he said. Also, rising traffic in the area has made it more challenging for those residents to access health care, a problem Novant is responding to with plans for a hospital there, he said.

Once the new hospital opens, Novant will have seven hospitals in the metro area, Mueller said.

This story was originally published October 16, 2018 at 3:08 PM with the headline "Healthcare rivalry heats up in Charlotte area with plans for two new hospitals."