“If you can’t grow, you die. That’s my concern with the legislation,” said Avera Heart President Jon Soderholm, referring to the health reform law that contains a provision banning new physician-owned hospitals and barring growth of existing facilities.
Sioux Falls-based Sanford Health, an opponent of Avera Heart Hospital since its inception, broke ground on its own 58-bed heart hospital last fall, after the health reform bill with its ban on physician-owned hospitals was proposed. Sanford officials said planning assumed the continued presence of 55-bed Avera Heart Hospital, which is also in Sioux Falls.
However, demand for some forms of heart care has been falling. Hospital admissions for heart attacks dropped 23 percent from 2002 to 2007, according to a recent Wall Street Journal analysis of recent Medicare data.
Read the Argus Leader‘s report on Avera Heart Hospital.
