Local & State Headlines

Palmyra files application for obstetrical services

• Palmyra Medical Center officials predict 500 births during a first year providing obstetrical care.

Susan McCord

ALBANY — Palmyra Medical Center moved forward with plans to become the second Albany hospital to offer obstetrical care Friday by filing an application for a Certificate of Need, hospital officials said.

Palmyra filed a letter of intent to provide the care July 1, the day a certificate of need reform bill passed by the legislature went into effect.

Two days later, the hospital filed an antitrust lawsuit against Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, the only place obstetrical care is currently offered in Albany.

“For many years,” Phoebe has “used their monopolies in obstetrics, neonatology and cardiovascular care to foreclose competition in other hospital services” and “prevent commercially insured residents of Dougherty and the surrounding counties from being able to use Palmyra,” the suit said.

Phoebe successfully opposed Palmyra’s three previous attempts to obtain a CON to provide obstetrical care under old CON laws.

The most recent attempt, in 2000, was denied after two years of appeals, Palmyra Marketing Director Eric Riggle said.

Palmyra CEO Bud Wethington said the hospital had been “overwhelmed by the support” received from patients, physicians and others since filing the letter of intent July 1.

Wethington also recently made a personal appeal to Albany and Dougherty leaders to participate in employee health plans.

“Our community deserves to have a choice in their health care services, and we ought to be allowed to compete and provide them a choice,” he said. “That’s why we’ve notified Dougherty County and the City of Albany of our desire to compete to participate in their health plans. That’s why we’ve taken legal action against Phoebe Putney. And, that’s why we’ve applied to provide obstetrical services.”

Phoebe officials have expressed amazement at the antitrust suit, and repeatedly stated that a private hospital will divert insured obstetrical patients and financial resources away from Phoebe.

Palmyra has applied for a CON to provide Level 1 obstetrical services, such as basic inpatient care for pregnant women and newborns without complications, identifying high-risk pregnancies, providing follow-up care for new mothers and infants and providing community education on perinatal health.

The hospital would establish an obstetrics wing inside an existing wing of the hospital, Riggle said.

Palmyra doesn’t plan to add a neonatal intensive care unit of the type Phoebe currently provides, he said.

If its CON is approved without opposition, Palmyra, a 248-bed acute-care hospital, hopes to begin delivering babies in 12 months and to deliver 500 babies during the first year, Riggle said.