State approves new acute care hospital in Garner and expansion of 2 others in Raleigh

WakeMed has received preliminary approval from the state to build a new hospital in Garner and a new 150-bed mental health hospital in Knightdale. Proposals to add beds to Duke Raleigh and UNC Rex hospitals received the state’s blessing as well.

State regulators previously decided that because of population growth Wake County can support 45 more acute care hospital beds and two additional operating rooms. The Triangle’s three hospital systems — Duke, WakeMed and UNC — each applied for permission to add those beds under the state’s “certificate of need” program, which aims to prevent hospitals from building unnecessary facilities that drive up health care costs or hurt quality.

The state Department of Health and Human Services decided to divide the 45 beds among the three systems. It said Duke and UNC could each add 18 beds to their Raleigh hospitals and allowed WakeMed to add 9.

WakeMed Health and Hospitals also received preliminary approval to build the two operating rooms in the planned WakeMed Garner Hospital. The hospital, at the corner of White Oak Road and Timber Drive, would have 31 acute care beds — the 9 new ones and 22 relocated from WakeMed’s main campus in Raleigh.

“We are very pleased that the state approved our application, which was undoubtedly one of several thoughtful and well-crafted proposals submitted,” WakeMed president and CEO Donald Gintzig said in a statement. “Through this process, we have demonstrated not only that there is a great need for convenient, high-quality care in the Garner community, but that WakeMed is well positioned to meet that need, for the benefit of those we serve.”

The state made the certificate of need decisions in late January, starting a 30-day appeal period, which ends this week. If any of the health systems contests the allocation of beds, the case would then be heard by the state Office of Administrative Hearings.

A spokesman for UNC Health indicated that it isn’t satisfied with the state’s decision. It had sought 36 beds and two additional operating rooms at Rex in Raleigh and another 9 beds at its Rex hospital in Holly Springs.

“UNC Health Rex is pleased that state regulators recognized the need for more beds at our main Raleigh hospital,” spokesman Alan Wolf said in an email. “However, given the projected increases in demand, we still believe that additional beds and operating rooms are needed at our Raleigh and Holly Springs hospitals — and offer the most cost-effective option.”

Dr. Monte Brown, vice president for administration at Duke University Health System, noted Friday’s deadline to file an appeal but did not comment further.

Demand for behavioral health services climbs

The appeal period has passed for WakeMed’s proposal for a mental health hospital, which won approval Jan. 18. The WakeMed Behavioral Health Center will have separate units for adolescents, young adults, adults and people older than 65 and will offer outpatient services.

WakeMed hopes to break ground on the $137.5 million psychiatric hospital next year and open by late 2026.

WakeMed officials chose Knightdale because it is relatively close to the hospital system’s main campus on the east side of Raleigh, where it receives its largest share of patients with behavioral health problems. Gintzig said last summer that the number of patients seeking mental health treatment at WakeMed emergency rooms increased 25% during the COVID-19 pandemic, amounting to 40,000 additional visits a year.

The new Garner acute care hospital is expected to cost about $214 million and begin seeing patients in late 2026. It would be the third medical hospital to open in Wake County this decade. UNC opened the 50-bed Rex Holly Springs hospital in late 2021, and Duke Health has received permission to build a 40-bed hospital on Green Level West Road, at the N.C. 540 interchange in western Cary.

Duke has opened primary care and specialty clinics at Green Level and is still working with the town on permits its needs to begin building the hospital, Brown said.