Novant Health says its $336.4 million proposal to build a 50-bed acute-care hospital in Kannapolis is intended to bring much-needed competition to fast-growing Cabarrus County.
Its construction would offer “a vital alternative to Atrium Health,” which is “the sole provider of acute care” services in Cabarrus, Novant says in its certificate of need application. The county abuts Charlotte and has seen its population soar 82% since 2000 to top 240,000 residents.
Diversification would increase “competition, which can drive improvements in patient care, enhance service delivery, and address the preferences of those seeking varied healthcare options within Cabarrus County,” Novant says.
Winston-Salem-based Novant acknowledged that it’s seeking to use part of the additional 126 beds allotted to Cabarrus by the state’s 2025 medical facilities plan.
Atrium, for its part, has applied for its own certificate of need that would use up the entirety of the 126 beds.
It says they will go into a new tower to its existing hospital in Concord. That construction is exempt from the certificate of need process.
Even with 427 beds, Atrium Health Cabarrus “regularly exceeded 100% occupancy” in 2024, which delayed surgical procedures, patients transfers from the ER and also transfers from post-surgery recovery rooms, Atrium says.
Atrium already has permission to add 118 beds to the Concord facility and another operation in Harrisburg. If state regulators give it the entire 126-bed allotment from the new facilities plan, Atrium would control all 671 acute-care beds in Cabarrus County. Its project would cost $208.5 million.
Novant says there’s precedent for breaking up allocations to ensure competition.
It pointed to 2022 and 2024 reviews that led N.C. Department of Health and Human Services officials to give Florida-based AdventHealth permission to build a hospital in Buncombe County to compete with HCA-owned Mission Hospital.
Novant has about $10 billion in annual revenue, and has pledged to triple that amount in coming years, officials said at a recent healthcare conference.
For more information, see the N.C. Tribune.
