WCBC

January 22nd, 2020 by WCBC Radio

Western Maryland Health System has been successfully operating Hunt Club Urgent Care for the last 28 years. The Hunt Club Urgent Care was established 33 years ago by former Memorial Hospital Emergency Department physicians, Dr. Nick Casto and Dr. John Stansbury. Memorial Hospital purchased Hunt Club Urgent Care in 1992, and it then became part of Western Maryland Health System in 1996. Both physicians continued to serve at the urgent care facility until their subsequent retirements in 2013 and 2016, respectively. WMHS then assumed operations of the facility in order to continue urgent care services to residents of Mineral County, WV, and the surrounding region.

 

Last summer, WMHS began making inquiries about the certificate of need (CON) requirements in West Virginia. At that time, WMHS learned that a required CON did not exist for the Hunt Club Urgent Care facility since the physicians, who were the initial owners of the facility, were not required to file a CON.  WMHS immediately self-reported to the West Virginia Health Care Authority and filed a CON application for the Hunt Club location. Subsequent to the filing, Potomac Valley Hospital / WVU Medicine filed their opposition to the CON. Recognizing that the various hearings, rulings and appeals could last into the spring of 2020 and impact WMHS in moving forward with its upcoming integration with UPMC, WMHS elected to withdraw its CON application. WMHS plans to refile the CON after the completion of the integration, but until a CON is approved and issued by the West Virginia Health Care Authority, Hunt Club Urgent Care will, unfortunately, be forced to temporarily close at the end of business on January 30, 2020.

 

During this temporary closure, Hunt Club Urgent Care patients are encouraged to visit the WMHS Advanced Medical Care, formerly South Cumberland Urgent Care on Industrial Boulevard in Cumberland. This location is approximately six miles from the Hunt Club facility. In anticipation of an increase of patients to the South Cumberland location, WMHS has renovated and expanded that Center to now include urgent care, occupational medicine, and diagnostics, such as lab and radiology.

WMHS extends its sincere apologies to residents of the region and especially to its West Virginia Urgent Care patients for any inconvenience. WMHS intends to pursue a successful filing and approval of the refiled CON application so that urgent care services can return to Mineral County and the surrounding region.