Here are three ASCs who have faced opposition so far in 2023:
1. In November, Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist earned approval to construct a $30 million ASC on a property it purchased for $12.5 million in Greensboro, N.C. Now, Greensboro, N.C.-based Cone Health is actively opposing its construction.
Last year, Cone Health opened a $97 million ambulatory care center two miles from where Atrium plans to open its ASC.
Cone Health and Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Novant Health are also opposing Atrium's proposed $246 million hospital in Greensboro, which has already received conditional approval from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services' certificate of need division. Cone Health plans to appeal the department's decision. Greensboro-based Southeastern.
2. In June, a proposed ASC in Glen Carbon, Ill., faced vocal resident opposition at a zoning commission meeting. Nearly a dozen residents attended the meeting to express concern about the development of the 40,000-square-foot ASC. Residents expressed concerns about the increase in traffic, stormwater drainage, effects on property values and increased lighting from the development.
The plan is for Maryville's Mid-America Plastic Surgery Center, owned by Ryan Diederich, MD, to relocate and build a new facility.
3. In April, a planned 60,000-square-foot medical office building in Greensboro, N.C., faced opposition from residents over possible Revolutionary War soldiers' graves. In 1781, 24 soldiers died in a Revolutionary War battle on the same land, with opponents claiming the lot could contain buried soldiers.
A third-party archaeological firm assessed the site for potential graves, determining their presence was unlikely. The City Council voted unanimously to approve the medical office building rezoning.