A doctors group has won a legal round in its pursuit of building a $34 million ambulatory surgery center in Columbia County.
In an order signed Wednesday, Judge James G. Blanchard Jr. ruled against University Health Services and Doctors Hospital Surgery Center in their attempt to prevent the Medical College of Georgia Physicians Practice Group Foundation from obtaining a Certificate of Need to build a 65,000-square-foot center at Knob Hill and Washington roads.
The physicians group has been trying to obtain the Certificate of Need, required for any new institutional health-services provider, since April 2008. It was one of the first requests since the state changed the law in 2008.
The amended law altered how a provider applies for and appeals Certificate of Need decisions by the state Department of Community Health.