GROVETOWN, Ga. (AP) - A dispute over whether Augusta University can build a 100-bed hospital in the rapidly growing suburb of Columbia County is again headed back to the Georgia Supreme Court.
The Augusta Chronicle reports that Doctors Hospital has filed a notice of appeal of a recent ruling by the Georgia Court of Appeals. That ruling found the state Department of Community Health acted appropriately in awarding a certificate of need to the Augusta University to build the hospital in 2014.
Doctors Hospital won an appeal of a previous Court of Appeals ruling to the state Supreme Court.
Augusta University wants to build the hospital near Grovetown. All three Augusta-area hospitals sought the certificate of need. Columbia County has committed to pay 20% of the cost.
With notice of further appeal, “the citizens of Columbia County will have to wait,” Augusta University Health System CEO Katrina Keefer said.
All three Augusta hospitals have gotten permission to build freestanding emergency departments in Columbia County. Each in turn is appealing the licenses of the others.
Keefer says that if the license for the hospital is finally upheld, AU’s plans may change, in part because it and other medical providers have located more services in Columbia County in recent years.
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