Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 5, 1995 TAG: 9510050034
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ELISSA MILENKY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Warm Hearth filed a letter of intent with state and local health officials last month, which means it is officially in the running to build the 60-bed nursing home. It has until Dec. 1 to file an application for a certificate of public need with the state Health Department and Southwest Virginia Health Systems Agency.
The application must be approved before construction can begin. Warm Hearth will need to demonstrate the project is economically feasible without raising the price of health care, said Richard Roark, executive director of Southwest Virginia Health Systems.
If the application is filed by Dec. 1, Roark said, several steps must take place before Warm Hearth's proposal is approved or denied:
The health systems agency board will hold a public hearing in February.
The board will meet in March to examine the certificate.
The state health commissioner should make a final decision by May 10.
The nursing home would be part of Warm Hearth Village, which already includes independent-living town homes and apartments and an assisted-care facility. The nursing home completes "the continuum of care," said David Murray, Warm Hearth director of development.
Warm Hearth also recently completed a fund-raising study, conducted by a Minnesota-based consultant group called Ark Development, that showed "a high level of receptivity to the plans" that has encouraged the Warm Hearth Foundation to move forward with the capital campaign," a news release from Warm Hearth said.
During the fund-raising study, the possibility of a partnership between for-profit Montgomery Regional Hospital, part of Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp., and nonprofit Carilion Health System, parent company for Radford Community Hospital, arose. Meetings were held with both hospitals to discuss "the comprehensive development plans for the village" after the study was completed, but there have been no further discussions since then, a news release said.
Warm Hearth also is conducting a financial feasibility study, which will be completed in November.
Construction on Warm Hearth Village began in 1981. By the time it was ready to build the nursing home, however, the state had passed a moratorium on new nursing home construction because of a surplus of facilities.
A bill was passed in the Virginia General Assembly earlier this year that granted Warm Hearth an exception to the moratorium and allowed it to apply for a certificate of public need.
Warm Hearth officials have cited studies that show New River Valley nursing homes are reaching capacity.
During the four years the moratorium has been in place, occupancy rates have increased "so there is a need," Roark said.
by CNB