WellStar Proposes Hospital, Hospice, Health Park for Holly Springs

If all goes to plan, WellStar Health System would build a 100-bed hospital, a hospice facility and a health park with outpatient services.

That is what the Marietta-based company told about 60 residents who packed into Liberty Elementary School to hear what the company would like to build on about 62 acres of land on the southwest corner of Sixes Road and Interstate 575.

According to the Cherokee Tribune, the park would be between 100,000 to 150,000 square feet and is estimated to bring roughly $38 million in capital investment. 

The health park, which would include a free-standing emergency center would be developed first, followed by the hospital and then the hospice. The emergency center would treat patients without being attached to an actual hospital.

WellStar in January initially filed a letter of intent with the Georgia Department of Community Health to build a $21 million off-site emergency center on Sixes Road at Interstate 575.

However, the company decided not to file for a certificate of need review to move forward with their request. 

The CON has to be filed 30 days after a letter of intent is filed with the department. The CON Program evaluates proposals for new health care facilities or services. 

WellStar Spokesperson Keith Bowermaster told Patch earlier this month that there's "no precedent" in Georgia for a free-standing emergency department to get the CON stamp of approval. 

"We are very interested in this clinical model, but [we] elected to not file the CONs at this time," he said. "We anticipate that DCH will define a path for serving the community with this new approach."

Bowermaster went on to say that free-standing emergency departments "are consistent with WellStar's commitment to innovative outpatient services."

While they aren't pursuing a CON for the area, they aren't necessarily abandoning plans for the site. The company is set to go back before the Holly Springs Planning and Zoning Commission to discuss their plans at 7 p.m. Thursday.

The meeting will be held in the Holly Springs Municipal Court chambers.

The company has applied with the city to rezone the property from general commercial/mixed used to solely general commercial.

They've also requested a conditional use permit to operate a hospital or similar business and a personal/nursing care home. 

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