By Stephen Baldwin, RealWV
CHAPMANVILLE, WV – Two leading medical providers in southern West Virginia are at odds over a proposed Chapmanville clinic.
Boone Memorial Health (BMH), which sits 19 miles away from the proposed site, wants to expand into Chapmanville by building a new clinic for podiatry services, a pharmacy, and behavioral health services.
Click here to read the full application for a new Chapmanville Clinic by BMH.
Logan Regional Medical Center (LRMC), which sits 20 miles away, objects to the proposed expansion, saying it will provide “similar services” to those already offered by LRMC and will be “significantly affected by the proposed project.”
Click here to read the challenge letter from LRMC.
LRMC does not specify which of the three services to be offered in Chapmanville will conflict with those offered at their hospital.
In their application for the new facility, BMH says that over half of their podiatry patients live in Logan County already, meaning the move will result in “greater (patient) access…in a more convenient location.”
Additionally, they point out that they employ the only psychiatrist in three counties who offers behavioral health access for patients.
But the new clinic is now on hold, as the WV Health Care Authority will consider the challenge filed by LRMC before allowing BMH to move forward in providing new health care services in Chapmanville.
RealWV reached out to both hospitals seeking comment on Tuesday, and as of Wednesday evening neither has responded.
Certificate of Need
Jessica Dobrinsky, Chief of Staff at the Cardinal Institute for West Virginia Public Policy, supports the repeal of CON laws. Photo by Will Price.
At issue are the state’s Certificate of Need (CON) laws. Thirty-four states have CON laws, which restrict the ability of health care providers to begin providing new or duplicative services unless they have government approval.
For example, if Boone Memorial wants to expand services into Logan County, they have to apply to do so with the state’s Health Care Authority. Other health care providers, such as Logan Regional, can object if they think the new project will infringe upon the services they offer.
Advocates of the laws, such as the WV Hospital Association, say CON helps ensure rural hospitals remain open by providing an array of health care services.
Jessica Dobrinsky, Chief of Staff at the Cardinal Institute for West Virginia Public Policy, supports the repeal of CON laws, explaining it this way, “McDonald’s doesn’t ask permission to open across the street from Wendy’s. Some people prefer a Big Mac and some prefer spicy nuggets.”
“It’s the greatest barrier to health care,” she says.
In limbo, politically & otherwise
Gov. Patrick Morrisey, who appoints the members of the state Health Care Authority, supports repeal of the state’s CON laws and is currently supporting a slate of legislative candidates that feel the same way. The primary election is on May 12, and the fate of CON may rest in the results.
This is not the first time Boone Memorial and Logan Regional have been at odds in the CON process. On the same day that Logan challenged Boone’s expansion, Boone challenged Logan’s attempt to sell and restructure.
Boone Memorial is a 501c3 nonprofit health care provider while Logan Regional Medical Center is a private, for-profit hospital owned by ScionHealth.
ScionHealth wants to sell Logan Regional to Lifepoint Health for $41 million. Following Boone’s objection, that application will now also be thrown into limbo as the WV Health Care Authority will further consider it at a future meeting.
Who benefits?
Jessica Dobrinsky wrote extensively about the situation in her Substack, Clear Lines, emphasizing the impact this regulatory process has on patients.
“The town (Chapmanville) has fewer than 1,000 residents in a county where roughly 20% of residents live below the federal poverty line. There is no permanent podiatry practice in the town. There is no behavioral health practice. The nearest hospital is twenty minutes away,” she said.”
“A community hospital, headquartered in a neighboring county, has filed a Certificate of Need application to provide three of those services, committing nearly $5 million in capital. Yet Logan Regional Medical Center, a 132-bed acute care hospital twenty minutes away, has filed an objection.”
“Now, an administrative hearing stands between Chapmanville’s residents and the care they have gone without for years. A patient who might have started behavioral health treatment keeps waiting. Someone with diabetes who could have gotten routine foot care locally still has to drive—twenty minutes or more. A retiree who would have used the new drive-through pharmacy for a monthly prescription goes without. For these residents, the delay is not just paperwork—it is a daily barrier to health and independence,” she continued.
Dobrinsky, who travels the country as an expert on CON laws, is frank in her analysis of the impact the laws have on local citizens and what causes it. “As Chapmanville waits, the question is this: who actually benefits from blocking new care, the people who live here or the hospitals that already hold the keys?”
Stay tuned to RealWV for updates on this developing story.