DHEC Denies Roper Request

S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, which gave the greenlight to the town's hospital expansion in September, denied a request to reconsider that decision on Thursday.

The request came from Roper St. Francis, which has .

Roper has 30 days to file an appeal. According to The Post and Courier, an appeal is likely and would move the matter to Administrative Law Court. 

In a Sept. 22 Goose Creek Patch story, after the project was given the OK by DHEC, Roper officials said that if the Summerville project is allowed then . 

"It's really independent of Berkeley County," Summerville Medical Center CEO Louis Caputo said in a late September interview. "It's based on what we see in this market."

.

The center released this statement after the Thursday announcement by DHEC:

Summerville Medical Center is very pleased with the DHEC Board’s decision, which was based on the merits of Summerville’s CON application, the need in the State Health Plan,  and the fact that Summerville Medical Center wants and needs to convert to all private beds in order to meet community demand.