Appeals denied for Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals, Dougherty County concerning Lee hospital

ALBANY — Letters dated from Feb. 14 and Wednesday to the attorneys for the Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals and Dougherty County, respectively, sent by the Georgia Department of Community Health, deny requests to appeal the certificate of need for Lee County Medical Center.

The GACH’s attorney, Kathlynn Butler Polvino, sent a letter Dec. 14 requesting an administrative appeal hearing before DCH under the appeal provisions of Chapter 13 of Title 50 of the Administrative Procedures Act. Such a request, the DCH responded, is to be directed to the Certificate of Need Panel — whom Polvino had reached out to in a separate letter.

“To the extent that GACH is requesting an administrative appeal before the department pursuant to the general contested-case provisions of the Administrative Procedures Act, see O.C.G.A. 50-13-13, rather than the Certificate of Need Appeal Panel provisions O.C.G.A. 31-6-44, that request is denied,” the Feb. 14 letter, signed by Rachel King, executive director of the DCH’s Office of Health Planning, said.

Polvino had also requested on behalf of GACH confirmation of lack of standing to appeal and that the alliance had exhausted its administrative remedies before DCH to challenge the initial decision.

“The department declines to respond to this request,” the letter from King said.

The DCH filed a motion on Feb. 9 asking the hearing officer of the state CON Appeal Panel to dismiss the Dougherty County and GACH appeals of a certificate of need granted for the proposed Lee County hospital on the grounds that neither fit the criteria for an appeal.

Monty Veazey, CEO of GACH, said the organization was not surprised at the response from DCH, stating that they thought it was likely GACH had exhausted its options.

“We thought we had, but we wanted to be sure,” he said. “We are not impacted as an alliance, but we have individual hospitals that are impacted.”

Crisp Regional Hospital still has a pending appeal, the hearing for which is scheduled April 30. Veazey said the next step is to see how that process plays out, but either way, it is likely one party will appeal the decision — probably to the Georgia Supreme Court.

“Depending on the hearing on April 30, I feel it will go to the courts one way or the other,” Veazey said.

He said GACH still remains opposed to the certificate of need in that the organization believes it will have a substantial impact on both Dougherty County and Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital. He added that he expects the proposed Lee hospital to operate more as a “super surgical center” at which all the imaging and labs will be done on insured patients who come through the door before they are shipped to Phoebe.

“It is expected to have a $40 million negative impact on Phoebe, based on a study that was done,” Veazey said.

A letter sent from attorney Robert Rozier on behalf of Dougherty County dated March 2 also requested an administrative appeal before DCH under the same provisions of the Administrative Procedures Act that GACH had requested its under, further noting that a similar request had been sent to the CON Appeal Panel.

King wrote a letter to Rozier Wednesday, sending a response to the attorney identical to the one she sent to Polvino on Feb. 14, denying the appeal and refusing to respond to the request confirming if the county lacks standing and had exhausted its administrative remedies.

A phone call to Rozier seeking comment was not immediately returned on Friday.

The response from Lee County Commission Vice Chairman Billy Mathis on the matter was short and to the point.

“The state of Georgia has once again ruled in our favor, in favor of the people of Southwest Georgia,” he said.

Lee County Commissioner Rick Muggridge told The Albany Herald last month that officials expect to be able to break ground on the 60-bed hospital at the former Grand Island Golf Club site in either June or July, putting it on track to open in early 202o.

Jennifer Parks