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ESTERO — An administrative law judge has recommended the state deny a request by Lee Memorial Health System to build an 80-bed hospital in South Lee County.
The ruling is a setback to efforts by Lee Memorial to get approval for the new hospital from state regulators at the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration. The agency will consider the judge's ruling before it issues a final order approving or denying the hospital, which has been challenged by NCH Healthcare System in Naples to the south.
“This is very unfortunate news for Lee County,” says Jim Nathan, president of Lee Memorial Health System. “We strongly believe a hospital in the fast-growing Bonita Springs and Estero communities would bring health services closer to where residents work and live, and would balance the distribution of patient beds throughout all of Southwest Florida.”
The proposed 80-bed hospital would be located on a 33-acre parcel on Coconut Road across from the Coconut Point Mall. Hospital services would include a 24-hour emergency room, general surgery and an intensive care unit.
Lee Memorial originally applied for a certificate of need in February 2013, requesting the transfer of 80 licensed beds from Lee Memorial Hospital on Cleveland Avenue in Fort Myers to a new south Lee hospital. NCH Healthcare System contested the application and Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration subsequently denied it last June. Lee Memorial appealed and an administrative hearing was held in November 2013.
Read a recent opinion editorial in the Business Observer about those efforts here.
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