Kernersville, N.C. - Forsyth Medical Center (FMC) announced today that it has filed a request for a Certificate Of Need (CON) with the North Carolina Division of Facility Services to build a new $84 million, 50-bed acute care hospital in Kernersville. The new community hospital, Forsyth Medical Center Kernersville, will be located near the intersection of Interstate 40 and N.C. 66 in the rapidly growing "Heart of the Triad" area.

In its request, FMC outlined plans for the new hospital to include:

• Forty-six (46) acute care medical-surgical beds
• A four-bed Intensive Care Unit
• Four surgical operating rooms
• An Emergency Department with 14 treatment rooms
• Imaging services such as a 40-slice CT scanner, fluoroscopy, ultrasound, X-ray and mobile MRI
• Diagnostic cardiac services
• Laboratory and pharmacy services

FMC is asking the state to approve 39 new beds and the transfer of 11 existing beds from FMC to the new community hospital. FMC is also asking the state to relocate one additional operating room from FMC to the new location. FMC has already received permission to relocate three operating rooms from Winston-Salem to Kernersville.

Greg Beier, president of Forsyth Medical Center, says the new hospital will increase convenience for residents of greater Kernersville by offering quality healthcare closer to home.

"At Forsyth Medical Center, we truly believe in the importance of 'community' healthcare," Beier says. "As a not-for-profit hospital, our mission is to provide comprehensive healthcare to the residents of northwest North Carolina, and the best way to do this is to bring quality doctors, nurses and medical facilities right into the backyards of the people that we serve. While we need to expand our healthcare facilities and medical services to meet the growing demand for services, our main campus near Hanes Mall is near capacity. We should be locating these services closer to the people who use them."

In the announcement, made jointly with Kernersville town officials, Kernersville Mayor Curtis Swisher said the new hospital will be important to the town, which is projecting double-digit growth during the next five years.

"We believe that the new hospital is a key part of Kernersville's continued economic growth and fully support this request to the state," Swisher says. "With the opening of the Dell manufacturing plant and the soon-to-open FedEx facility, we know that the need for more expanded healthcare services, including access to emergency and surgical care in this area is only going to increase."

In its request for approval of the new hospital, FMC said that Kernersville residents accounted for nearly 18,000 patient visits at Forsyth Medical Center and its affiliates in 2005. A large percentage of that care can be conveniently delivered right in the Kernersville community.

FMC and its affiliates have provided primary and specialty healthcare in Kernersville for more than 15 years at Central Triad Medical Park. The medical office park is home to a number of primary care and specialty physicians on the FMC medical staff, including cardiology, ear-nose-throat, family practice, gastrointestinal, obstetrical / gynecological, oncology, orthopaedics, pediatrics and radiology. In addition, PrimeCare - FMC's family medicine, urgent care and occupational health practice - has two locations in the greater Kernersville area, including one near Central Triad Medical Park and one at NC 68.

FMC filed the required CON with the state on May 15 for approval of the community hospital. Once the May 15 CON is approved, it will take approximately two years to build the hospital.