TriStar Health Systems, an HCA division, said Friday that it won't appeal a court ruling blocking its building plans and will pursue other options to serve residents of the area.
Cheryl Read, a TriStar spokeswoman, declined to say which specific health services the company might pursue now. She did mention a partnership with an ambulance service company to provide emergency medical care and a physician practice known as Centennial Medical Center at Spring Hill among its current offerings here.
TriStar had until this weekend to disclose whether it would appeal Davidson County Chancellor Claudia C. Bonnyman's recent ruling that revoked a state agency's previous approval of the hospital plans.
Melanie Hill, executive director of the state's Health Services and Development Agency, which had approved the hospital over the objections of two local competitors, said this was the first time one of its decisions had been overturned twice — once by Bonnyman's ruling and earlier by an administrative law judge.
"The agency was disappointed with the Chancery Court's ruling," she said.
TriStar Health System President Larry Kloess said the company didn't think it made sense to invest any more time trying to overturn the rulings against its hospital project.
Kloess said further TriStar appeals to win approval of a certificate of need for the proposed 56-bed hospital could take several more years. For that reason, HCA isn't going to appeal the matter, he said.
Other projects possibleKloess blamed competing hospitals for blocking "new health-care services in their community."
"Rather than accommodating these delay tactics any further, we will pursue other plans to add health-care services to … Spring Hill in the near term," Kloess said, although he didn't elaborate on what they might be.
Williamson Medical Center in Franklin and Maury Regional Medical Center in Columbia — both county-owned — have argued against HCA's plans at the state level and in court for nearly three years, claiming there isn't sufficient need for another hospital in the area, especially with a weakened economy.
Warren Gooch, an attorney for Williamson Medical Center, said his client was pleased with TriStar's decision not to appeal.
"If the Spring Hill Hospital had been built, it would have had a tremendous financial impact on Williamson Medical Center and would have adversely affected its ability to continue to meet the health-care needs of all the citizens of Williamson County," he said.
"And at the end of the day, that's why Williamson Medical Center opposed this project."
"I suspect they are regrouping and deciding how to proceed," said James H. Smith, who until Friday was Spring Hill's interim city administrator. "The fact that they're not appealing doesn't mean they're not going to continue to try for one down the road."
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