In 2022, North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services approved new hospital beds to be built in Western North Carolina for the first time in more than a decade.
According to the formula the state uses annually to determine which areas require expanded medical services, Buncombe and its neighboring counties were due for 67 more acute care beds. That determination kicked off a competitive application process to determine which health system was best positioned to receive the certificate of need required for them to build and operate those beds.
In the end, DHHS chose to approve Florida-based AdventHealth’s application for a brand new hospital in Weaverville, a small town in the northern part of Buncombe. The decision was welcome news for residents of nearby Madison County, who sometimes faced commutes longer than an hour to reach needed medical care…