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BRMC / HealthSouth Surgery Center Application Approved Bluefield Regional Medical Center is pleased to announce approval of its application with HealthSouth, Inc. to the Commonwealth of Virginia to construct an ambulatory surgery center on a new campus in or near Bluefield, Virginia. Construction on the 9,400 square foot facility, called the HealthSouth Surgery Center of Bluefield, will begin this spring and will be completed in 18 months or less. The facility will house two operating suites and a smaller procedure room, and will provide our patients with improved access to minor surgical procedures in a specialized setting. Officials project that approximately 3,800 procedures will be performed in the surgery center each year. HealthSouth, BRMC, and physicians who practice at the surgery center who choose to invest in it will own the facility jointly. Physicians may individually purchase a 2 percent share, and total physician ownership will be no more than 49 percent. HealthSouth will own 26 percent of the center, and BRMC will own 25 percent. "BRMC and HealthSouth are thrilled that this project has been approved," said Lynn Whitteker, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at BRMC. "It has been a long, difficult process, but with the support of officials from the Town of Bluefield and Tazewell County, State Senator Phillip Puckett, Delegate Bennie Kiester, and local physicians and citizens, we were able to justify to the state Department of Health the need for this facility." "We see this as being good for our entire area," said Bluefield, Virginia Mayor Bill King. "It was a long and very interesting process," King continued. "It was very satisfying." With more than 220 such centers, HealthSouth is the largest and most experienced operator of outpatient surgery centers in the United States. The expertise HealthSouth brings will assure efficiency, quality and financial stability. Among the advantages of surgery centers located outside of hospitals are greater convenience and lower cost to the patient, and higher quality of care for outpatients than can be provided in a hospital setting. The surgery center will be a for-profit facility, providing tax revenue for Tazewell County, the Commonwealth of Virginia and the Town of Bluefield, if the site that is chosen is inside Town limits. The facility will also create 20 - 28 new jobs. BRMC and HealthSouth began pursuing the Certificate of Public Need for this project about one year ago. The process included a public hearing in Bluefield, Va. last September, a hearing before the Health Planning Agency of South West Virginia in Roanoke in November, and a final hearing in Richmond in December. In the letter announcing
approval of the project, Robert B. Stroube, Acting State Health Commissioner,
noted that "specific conditions relating to the rural nature of
[the surgery center's] service area and the population's designation
as being a medically underserved area warrant special consideration,"
and, "the proposed project, which has significant community support,
offers substantial improvements in efficiencies and access to care for
the citizens of Virginia who currently travel outside the state for
outpatient surgical services."
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