Cites concerns of duplicating services
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – WVU Hospitals (WVUH) has filed a request with the West Virginia Health Care Authority for a public hearing on Mon General Hospital’s Certificate of Need (CON) application to provide radiation therapy to cancer patients. Mon General filed for the CON to purchase and house a linear accelerator – the equipment used for delivering radiation therapy treatments.“This is the first time we have ever asked for a hearing for a CON requested by Mon General, and we did not come to this decision easily,” WVUH President and CEO Bruce McClymonds said. “But after an extensive analysis of their application and the projected demand for such services, we believe that a public hearing by the Health Care Authority is warranted.”
McClymonds said the Health Care Authority’s CON process is designed to ensure that expensive healthcare resources are not duplicated unnecessarily. In fact, north central West Virginia already has a total of five linear accelerators. Two of them are at the WVUH Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center in Morgantown. The others are in Harrison and Marion counties.
“The Health Care Authority has clear standards for determining whether a service is necessary,” McClymonds said.
