Middletown City officials received a 62-page letter and petition opposing Dayton, Ohio-based Kettering Health Network's expansion plan. The letter was signed by 740 staff, physicians, board members, volunteers and community supporters of Middletown, Ohio-based Atrium Medical Center, according to the Journal-News.
The petition was received Nov. 13, just one day before the Middletown Planning Commission votes on a rezoning request from Kettering Health Network. If the rezoning request is approved, Kettering Health would be able to provide an expanded scope of medical services, including overnight patient stays, which are now prohibited.
Kettering Health's facility is less than a mile from Atrium Medical Center.
"We are responding to requests for choice from our patients," Daniel Tryon, executive director and administrator of Kettering Health Network Middleton told the Journal-News. "Patients regularly have to leave the Middleton medical complex because they need care for more than 24 hours. Rezoning would allow patients to stay closer to home for care.
In the letter, Atrium employees outlined several reasons for opposing Kettering Health's expansion, including the healthcare industry's ongoing shift to the outpatient setting, the risk of adding duplicative services and ongoing staffing problems as shortages of local healthcare workers persist.
"Our present concerns have nothing to do with competition but instead center on the implications of adding unnecessary inpatient beds to the Middletown community at a time when demand for inpatient services continues to shrink," the letter states.
The commission voted 4-1 to approve the rezoning request on Nov. 14. However, the final decision will come from the full Middletown City Council. The city council is scheduled to vote Dec. 18.