UNC Rex Hospital is seeking permission from state regulators to add 233 acute care beds to its main hospital off Blue Ridge Road in Raleigh.
Ethan Hyman
ehyman@newsobserver.com
RALEIGH
The Triangle’s big three health systems have asked state regulators for permission to build nearly 700 new acute care hospital beds in Wake County, including new hospitals in two of the county’s fastest-growing towns.
Duke Health, UNC Rex and WakeMed want to add more than 600 beds to existing hospitals throughout the county. In addition, WakeMed, which hopes to merge with the larger Charlotte-based Atrium Health system, proposes building new hospitals in Rolesville and Wendell, each with 45 acute care beds.
Altogether, the three health systems propose spending nearly $2.2 billion on new acute care hospital capacity in Wake County.
State regulators aren’t likely to approve all the requests. The state Department of Health and Human Services limits the number of hospital beds and other healthcare facilities through a “certificate of need” process that aims to prevent unnecessary facilities that drive up healthcare costs or hurt quality.
Regulators say Wake County will need 233 additional acute care hospital beds by 2028, and they will use that number in determining which proposals to approve.
The department will hold a public hearing on the Wake proposals on Oct. 15 at noon in N.C. State University’s McKimmon Conference and Training Center, 1101 Gorman St. in Raleigh. It will also accept written comments through 5 p.m. Oct. 1 by email at DHSR.CON.Comments@dhhs.nc.gov.
Here’s what the three health systems are proposing:
Duke HealthDevelop 150 additional acute care beds at Duke Raleigh Hospital in phases through the summer of 2029 at an estimated cost of $346.2 million.Develop 82 additional acute care beds at Duke Cary Hospital now under construction off Green Level Road, at an estimated cost of $764.7 million.UNC RexDevelop 233 additional acute care beds at UNC Rex Hospital in Raleigh by November 2031. Rex would put 55 of those beds in renovated space in an existing tower, while the remaining 178 beds would be located in a new tower that has yet to be built. Seventy-two of the new beds would be designed for intensive care. Estimated cost: $169.6 million.WakeMed
WakeMed proposes the largest expansion of the three health systems, with the proposed changes to take place by October 2033. They include:
Develop 55 additional acute care beds at WakeMed’s main campus off New Bern Avenue in Raleigh at an estimated cost of $129.5 million.Develop 88 additional acute care beds at WakeMed Cary Hospital on Kildaire Farm Road at an estimated cost of $168.6 million.Build a new hospital in Rolesville with 45 acute care beds at an estimated cost of $302.4 million.Build a new hospital in Wendell with 45 acute care beds at an estimated cost of $318.7 million.
This time last year, the three health systems and Winston-Salem-based Novant proposed adding 670 acute care beds in Wake County, at a time when state regulators believed the market could support only 267.
Last winter, the Department of Health and Human Services approved a fraction of what the hospitals had asked for, awarding 164 additional beds to WakeMed Raleigh Campus, 52 to Duke Raleigh and 51 to UNC Rex. It turned down Novant’s proposal for a new hospital in Knightdale and UNC Rex’s bid to create a new hospital in Wake Forest.
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