Novant Health to open new practice in Asheville for ex-GenesisCare cancer surgeons
ASHEVILLE – The six specialty cancer surgeons who were recently fired by GenesisCare have found a new home. Novant Health, the nonprofit health care conglomerate with more than 800 locations in North Carolina and South Carolina, will open a new facility at 80 Peachtree Road, just south of Biltmore Forest, a Novant spokesperson confirmed. The facility will open Nov. 8.
“We’re excited to confirm our plans to partner with six local surgeons to open Novant Health Surgical Partners next month,” Novant spokesperson Ashton Miller said in an Oct. 24 statement to the Citizen Times. “We’re committed to serving the Western North Carolina community and will continue to look for ways to expand our services and offerings to increase access to quality healthcare.”
Paul Ahearne, a surgeon with the practice, told the Citizen Times Oct. 24 that staff that was previously employed by GenesisCare is now in training with Novant. The physicians will be employed by Novant, he said.
“We are very excited that we’ve been able to find a party to stay in town and continue to provide services for the region,” Ahearne said. “We’re looking forward to opening our doors when we can get the upfit finished.”
Novant, which is based in Winston-Salem, will increase health care competition in Western North Carolina, which has been reconciling with the growing imprint of HCA Healthcare, the for-profit institution that bought the Mission Health system for $1.5 billion in 2019.
This is not Novant’s first foray in the region. The nonprofit group acquired three urgent care clinics in Asheville and Black Mountain in May and submitted a certificate of need application for the 67-bed acute care hospital in Buncombe County. Novant told the Citizen Times in April that it had dropped out of the pursuit of the new hospital, which was preliminarily awarded to AdventHealth, pending an appeal from Mission.
Mission Health is embroiled in multiple antitrust lawsuits, one brought by individuals living in the area and another brought by the city of Brevard. The city of Asheville, Buncombe and Madison counties, joined as plaintiffs on the latter case.
The surgeons received pink slips from GenesisCare in letters dated Aug. 4, giving them 180 days of notice. Their timeline was accelerated Aug. 14, when they learned their practice would close in the middle of October. They have not been able to operate since late September because they need to be available for follow up. The surgeons specialize in colon and rectal cancers, as well as melanoma and other thyroid procedures. They are among the only surgeons in the region to perform these specialties, referring doctors said.
Prior to joining GenesisCare, the surgeons were employed by HCA. They left HCA to join GenesisCare in April 2021 to increase choices for physicians who did not want to be employed by the for-profit giant, Ahearne previously told the Citizen Times. Concerns with how HCA operated Mission and flexibility to operate at other locations were among the other reasons for the change, Colin Bird, a colorectal surgeon with the group, previously told the Citizen Times.
More: 6 Asheville cancer surgeons fired amid corporate private equity-backed bankruptcy
More: Patients arrive at Mission Hospital in ambulances, then the waiting begins
According to Novant’s 2022 financial statement, the nonprofit entity brought in $7.6 billion in operating revenues during the 2022 calendar year. Its Chief Executive Officer, Carl Armato, made about $4.5 million in 2021, according to Novant’s 2021 tax form.
Mitchell Black covers Buncombe County and health care for the Citizen Times. Email him at mblack@citizentimes.com or follow him on Twitter @MitchABlack. Please help support local journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Fired GenesisCare surgeons find new Asheville home with Novant Health
