Coweta County Superior Court Judge Emory Palmer has ordered that the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH) award a Certificate of Need (CON) to Vest Newnan LLC to establish a behavioral hospital in Newnan.
Judge Palmer in the May 20 ruling said the previous DCH action that denied the CON to establish the hospital was unconstitutional. Vest Newnan LLC appealed the previous DCH denial before Judge Palmer on April 22.
“The ‘impossible’ and non-existent need analysis permeated the Department’s final agency decision, as virtually all of the findings in the decision were inextricably tied to the Department’s unconstitutional need analysis. Moreover, the Department’s actions throughout the review demonstrate that the Department’s review of Vest’s application was arbitrary and capricious. The Department’s findings run counter to numerous prior Department decisions and were made upon unlawful procedure,” Palmer said.
With that, Judge Palmer reversed any findings by DCH concluding that Vest’s application was not consistent with DCH rules or the CON statute.
“For all these reasons, the Court grants the petition for judicial review, reverses the Department’s final agency decision and orders the Department to award a CON to Vest for its 60-bed psychiatric and substance abuse hospital,” Palmer said.
Judge Palmer’s decision is a win for many in the area who have maintained for years that a behavioral, including one needed for veterans, be established in Newnan. The hospital, to be operated by U.S. HealthVest, in the old Newnan Hospital would have the psychiatric hospital serving an area that includes, Coweta, Fayette, Heard, Troup and Meriwether counties.
Tanner Medical Center in Villa Rica, that opposed the CON, can appeal Judge Palmer’s decision.
Meantime, Coweta Veterans Commission co-Chair Malcolm Jackson on Wednesday said he was “tremendously pleased with the direction the appeal by Vest Newnan had taken. I hope we can dispense with the legal-ease and serve vets and those who badly need this service.”
Coweta County Commissioner Bob Blackburn also offered his appreciation with Judge Palmer’s ruling and to the many people who, for years, have advocated for a behavioral hospital in Newnan.
“Thank you to everyone who made this wonderful dream come true,” Blackburn said. “It’s a Godsend for so many people and families in Coweta.”
U.S. HealthVest Vice President Stacie York at a previous meeting noted that various Coweta County professionals in the field sent 75 letters of support in recommending that the CON be approved. Once the CON was denied, U.S. HealthVest appealed the decision, as did the Coweta County and Newnan governments. York said it is unusual to have a city and county government issue an appeal.
