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Bill sets up ‘slam dunk’ for hospital
Legislation would clear way for Lexington heart center
By JIM DuPLESSIS
jduplessis@thestate.com
Lexington Medical Center could open a heart surgery unit by year’s end under a legislation that would bypass the ongoing court battle with Columbia’s hospitals over the facility.
The legislation would allow a hospital to perform open-heart surgery if it meets two tests:
First, it must be located in a county that has no heart surgery center.
Second, the hospital must perform 1,200 heart catheterizations per year.
Both conditions describe Lexington Medical Center.
As written, the legislation also would apply to any pending disputes. That means that if the bill becomes law, S.C. Administrative Law Judge John D. Geathers would be required apply this standard to the appeal he is considering from Lexington Medical Center.
“That’s a slam dunk” for Lexington County Medical Center’s case, said Rep. Walton McLeod, D-Newberry.
Mike Biediger, Lexington Medical’s chief executive, said the hospital could have its facilities open within six months unless staff members decide to recruit heart surgeons from outside the area.
The legislation returns to the S.C. House this week with Senate amendments that eliminate the regulatory obstacles that have blocked Lexington Medical Center’s plans. The amendments were sponsored by Senate Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, and Sen. Nikki Setzler, D-Lexington.
Setzler failed in a similar move last May. He vowed then to try again this session.
Biediger said he appreciates the Lexington County delegation’s intervention.
“This is a unique situation. We have a very large number of cardiac patients who need to have care immediately,” he said.
If the House agrees with the Senate amendments, the bill will go directly to Gov. Mark Sanford for him to sign or veto. If the House doesn’t approve the amendments, the bill will be sent to a conference committee of House and Senate members to hash out the differences.
A vote on the bill is probably two weeks off, while the House completes work on the state budget, said Greg Foster, spokesman for S.C. House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston.
Lexington Medical Center announced in April 2004 it wanted to spend $5.5 million to outfit an operating room for heart surgeries and add a second heart catheterization laboratory at its campus in West Columbia.
Providence Hospital and Palmetto Health Richland, which have been performing heart surgeries seven miles away in Columbia, said a third facility is not needed and would lessen the quality of care in the region.
“We don’t think patients go by county lines. We’ve been caring for these people for years and years,” said Judy Smith, spokeswoman for Palmetto Health.
Providence spokeswoman Jeanna S. Moffett described the bill as “a perfect example of the kind of special-interest legislation that should not be allowed to stand in our General Assembly.”
Years ago, legislators gave the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control authority to let hospitals add new facilities, or to say no if they undermine the overall quality of care in a region.
DHEC staff rejected Lexington Medical Center’s proposal last year, saying a new facility so close to two existing ones would spread a limited number of surgeons too thinly over too many facilities.
Lexington Medical Center appealed, starting down a path that could take years to resolve. Legislators and professionals on both sides of the Congaree River said the issue has traveled a tortuously slow pace.
But they differ on whether special legislation is warranted.
Rep. Joan Brady, R-Richland, said having a state agency arbitrate hospitals’ competing interests has helped protect the public interest in enhancing the quality of health care. In this case, she said the number of open-heart surgeries in the area is stagnant or declining, despite the area’s growing population.
“Just as we can’t have a fire station and a police station on every corner, we can’t have a hospital offering all services on every corner,” she said. “We’d better get prepared for every hospital in this state not happy coming to their legislators.”
But Lexington County legislators said their county’s need for a heart surgery facility required action outside that process.
Setzler said the legislation would end a conflict that could have continued three to five more years in the courts.
“The hospitals are all at odds. We need to resolve this.”
McLeod said the bill’s amendments apply to any county, but he said they were written especially for Lexington County.
“You can say it’s tailored, but it’s feeding everybody out of the same spoon.”
Reach DuPlessis at (803) 771-8305.
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