Since the lawsuit was filed, Barrow Regional Medical Center has retained former Georgia Attorney General Michael Bowers to represent the company in its bid to stop a new hospital from being built in Braselton.
Barrow filed a lawsuit in March against the Georgia Department of Community Health and Northeast Georgia Medical Center in opposition to the Gainesville-based health system’s plan to open a 100-bed hospital in Braselton. Barrow contends in the suit that a hospital in Braselton would harm its Winder operations.
“The construction and operation of NEGMC’s new 100-bed hospital in such close proximity to Barrow’s facility will have a significant, potentially devastating impact on Barrow,” according to the lawsuit.
Bowers said this week that Northeast Georgia didn’t adequately account for the economic impact the proposed Braselton hospital would have on Barrow Regional and Winder when it submitted its application to the state in 2006.
“This is, in effect, a big fight between the Winder hospital and this huge hospital in Gainesville,” said Bowers.
Northeast Georgia is investing $208 million for the Braselton medical complex. Barrow Regional has spent nearly $3.5 million in capital improvements and new equipment since Health Management Associates bought the facility in 2006, according to court documents.
Bowers said the State Health Planning Review Board didn’t follow its own regulations when it approved a hearing officer’s decision in 2007 on Northeast Georgia’s application.
Healthcare facilities in Georgia are required to complete a Certificate of Need (CON) application when they are planning expansion of facilities or services.
Northeast Georgia said in its CON application that the Braselton hospital would be a replacement facility for its Lanier Park facility in Gainesville, which was slated to be closed. The health system later changed its application to change the scope of the Braselton facility, according to the lawsuit.
In its lawsuit, Barrow Regional contends that Northeast Georgia should have submitted another CON application when it switched from applying for a “replacement” facility to a “new” facility in Braselton.
