Bill seeks to bypass DHEC decision

Lexington Medical heart surgery center

If Lexington Medical Center can’t get state regulators to approve its proposed heart surgery center, it is hoping its legislative delegation can bypass the system.

Eleven state legislators, including nine who represent Lexington County, are sponsoring a bill filed Tuesday that would force the state Department of Health and Environmental Control’s hand.

Under the bill, if Lexington Medical Center resubmitted its request for a $5.6 million heart surgery center, DHEC would have to give approval.

“Our concern is health care, period,” said Rep. Kenny Bingham, R-Lexington. “For the delegation, patients are the bottom line. We will do whatever it takes to fight for the citizens of our county.”

Lexington Medical Center in April asked for state approval to build the heart surgery center. Before any S.C. hospital can perform bypasses and other heart surgeries, it first must get a certificate of need from DHEC.

DHEC denied Lexington Medical’s request in October, saying another Midlands heart surgery center would spread the area’s heart surgeons too thin. Providence Hospital and Palmetto Health Richland in Richland County already perform the surgeries.

Lexington Medical skipped its appeal to DHEC and went straight to the state’s administrative law court. A hearing before an administrative law judge is scheduled for June.

However, if the legislation passes, Lexington Medical could reapply for the certificate of need, and DHEC would be forced to grant it.

Michael Biediger, Lexington Medical’s chief executive officer, said representatives from Lexington County approached the hospital about filing the bill.

“They felt we were unfairly turned down,” Biediger said.

While the General Assembly debates the bill, Lexington Medical will prepare for the June hearing, Biediger said.

DHEC officials had not looked at the bill Wednesday and did not want to comment on it, agency spokeswoman Jan Easterling said.

Meanwhile, Richland County’s two hospitals that perform by-passes and other heart operations were lobbying their delegation to block the bill.

Providence Hospital officials met with Richland County representatives Tuesday to ask them to support DHEC’s original decision, said Dawn Catalano, a Providence spokeswoman.

Palmetto Health Richland spokeswoman Judy Cotchett Smith said the General Assembly created the certificate-of-need process and shouldn’t do anything to circumvent it.

Rep. James Smith, D-Columbia, who called the bill “special interest” legislation, is encouraging other legislators to vote against the proposal.

“We have a system that has worked well, and we don’t expect special treatment to be given when it’s contrary to the law which helps manage that,” Smith said.

It’s no secret a heart surgery center in Lexington County would draw patients — and their money — away from Richland County’s two hospitals, say people involved in the debate.

Smith said the Richland hospitals need the income to remain financially healthy and to continue coverage for many indigent patients who walk through their doors.

“They (Lexington) may think it’s in their short-term, parochial interest, but in the long-term interest of the Midlands community, it’s contrary to that, and that’s why it was denied,” Smith said.

Lexington County representatives said the certificate-of-need process has put politics and money ahead of patients’ health. Two representatives from Orangeburg County also have sponsored the bill.

“I don’t understand why people put dollar figures on saving people’s lives,” said Rep. Mac Toole, R-Lexington.

Toole said Lexington Medical Center met all the requirements needed to build a heart-surgery center.

“I think DHEC made a bad judgment and didn’t use the facts.”

Reach Phillips at (803) 771-8307 or nophillips@thestate.com.