Smithfield, N.C.-based UNC Health Johnston has won its appeal to the state to add 12 acute- care beds at its Clayton campus, according to a Sept. 26 news release shared with Becker's.
In February, UNC Health Johnston filed a certificate-of-need application through the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services to add the beds. UNC Health Johnston also filed a certificate-of-need application at that time to expand and consolidate women's services, including the relocation of a C-section room, obstetrics beds and three level 2 neonatal beds from the Smithfield campus to the Clayton campus.
Together, the projects are estimated to cost more than $100 million and add 24 beds to the Clayton and Smithfield campuses.
In August, the state approved the hospital's application for 12 new beds in Smithfield but denied the application to add the beds at the Clayton campus, according to the release. The health system appealed the latter decision.
Tom Williams, president and CEO of UNC Health Johnston, said in the release that the organization reached a settlement after satisfactorily answering questions from the state.
Mr. Williams added that he plans to present financing proposals to the hospital board in October, and "once we get their approval, we'll initiate requests for proposals for architects and general contractors to bid on the projects. Once they have been selected, we will initiate drawings, planning and permitting."
If the process goes as expected, construction for the additional beds at the Clayton hospital could begin by fall of 2025, according to Mr. Williams. Renovations will begin in Smithfield once the Clayton project is complete, in about two years.
The applications to the state from UNC Health Johnston, part of Chapel Hill, N.C.-based UNC Health, came after the 2024 State Medical Facilities Plan, developed by the state, projected that Johnston County would need 24 additional beds to meet an increasing population growth demand.
Meanwhile, UNC Health and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services asked the state Supreme Court in September to weigh in on a yearslong case involving plans to build a 40-bed hospital in the Durham, N.C., portion of Research Triangle Park. Read more about that case here.