AdventHealth is excited to announce, on June 15, 2022, we officially submitted our application to build a new hospital in Buncombe County.
Our application outlines the plan for bringing our Whole Person Care philosophy of treating the body, mind, and spirit of everyone who walks through our doors to the people of Buncombe, Graham, Madison and Yancey Counties and surrounding communities.
At AdventHealth, it’s our promise to help you feel whole. This commitment is why AdventHealth ranks in the top quartile nationally for outstanding patient care and safety and it will drive all we do to care for people in our new hospital.
AdventHealth’s proposal is to build a 67-bed community hospital that will include emergency, surgery, labor and delivery, and support services in the Enka Center, located off Smokey Park Highway and Sand Hill Road in the Enka/Candler Community of Buncombe County. Many people will recognize this property as the former American Enka Co. site and home of the historic Enka Clock Tower.
Why 67-beds
In January, North Carolina State Medical Facilities Plan (“SMFP”) listed the need for 67 acute care beds in the Buncombe, Graham, Madison and Yancey Counties service area. AdventHealth submitted the Certificate of Need application to meet this specific need.
AdventHealth Asheville Services
AdventHealth Asheville will be a community hospital with in-patient, surgical, labor and delivery, and emergency care. The hospital will include access to whole-person care through the following services:
- The Baby Place – Labor and Delivery Unit featuring 13 beds and a dedicated C-section Surgery Suite
- 42 Medical/Surgical Beds
- 12 Intensive Care Beds
- 18 Observation Beds
- A state-of-the-art Surgery Suite for general and specialty procedures with 5 procedural rooms
- Emergency Department with 12 beds
- Imaging Services
- Ancillary Services including Laboratory, Pharmacy and In-patient Therapy
Location
The NC State Medical Facilities Plan outlined the importance of improving access to care for the citizens of the four counties in the designated service area. As we worked to finalize the location, AdventHealth outlined the importance of not duplicating services in an area that already has coverage. More importantly, we wanted to ensure the location would increase access where there currently is no coverage.
AdventHealth endeavored to give the community a voice in this CON application. Members of our Leadership Team personally visited the entire acute care service area, speaking with leaders in Buncombe, Graham, Madison and Yancey Counties to learn more about each community’s unique health care needs. The people spoke and we listened. Conversations in town halls, county courthouses, schools, colleges, and fire departments offered profound insight into the public’s desire for additional health care choice and competition in Western North Carolina.
Based on those conversations, population data, hospital usage and land availability, AdventHealth determined Buncombe County to be the most effective geographical location for the multi-county service area. The plan outlined in the application will place AdventHealth Asheville in the Enka Center off Smokey Park Highway and Sand Hill Road in the Enka/Candler Community of Buncombe County.
Community Support
From the moment we announced our intention to apply for the Certificate of Need, we have received incredible community support. AdventHealth is honored to have received multiple letters of support from county commissioners, mayors, health departments, law enforcement, chambers of commerce, educational institutions, safety-net health care providers, and economic development agencies in all four counties of the designated service area. We were able to include these letters with the application submission.
Other members of the communities this hospital will serve will have an opportunity to share their comments when the public comment window opens on July 1. We invite people to visit WeMoveMountainsNC.com to sign up for updates regarding the application process and how to submit public comments.
Timeline
Based on CON application projected timelines, AdventHealth’s project schedule anticipates the CON will be issued in January 2023. AdventHealth Asheville would immediately begin development of the proposed new hospital and would become licensed and operational in January 2025.
We reached this timeline based on the CON Proposed Timetable which states the decision on a CON application is projected to be 150 days from the first date of review and the certificate of need will be issued 35 days from that projected decision date. The first date of review for the CON for the 67 acute care bed need in Buncombe, Graham, Madison and Yancey Counties is July 1, 2022.
