An AdventHealth presentation Oct. 3 to Asheville business leaders about its planned hospital in Buncombe County was followed by a tense exchange between a company official and Mission Hospital CEO Greg Lowe, who called the plans “grandiose” and questioned the company’s ability to provide the level of care needed in the area.
Graham Fields, assistant to the president at AdventHealth, spoke at the Council of Independent Business Owners’ (CIBO) monthly issues meeting about the Florida-based company’s plans to build a 222-bed hospital in Weaverville and how those plans have been delayed by a complex legal battle between his company and Mission. The planned hospital would serve Buncombe, Madison, Yancey and Mitchell counties and would be the first hospital competition in Buncombe since 1998.
During his 15-minute presentation in front of about 20 CIBO members, Fields talked about how the hospital would serve the region’s increasing demand and how the state’s Certificate of Need (CON) requirement had affected the plan’s timeline. (State law requires health care providers to obtain a CON before building facilities, adding hospital beds, or purchasing large pieces of medical equipment.)…