New Hanover Regional Medical Center s plan to expand into the fast-growing Scotts Hill and Porters Neck areas with a new hospital has hit a big regulatory bump.
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services has denied New Hanover s certificate of need application for the project. According to the department s website, the state requires healthcare providers to obtain permission from the agency before developing or offering a new institutional health service.
The certificate of need application was filed in September after New Hanover s Board of Trustees approved spending $210 million to build the Scotts Hill Community Hospital. It raises a number of questions, said Harper Peterson, a former state senator and former mayor of Wilmington who has been critical of the county selling New Hanover Regional, of the state s decision.