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Dr. Joe Borelli Jr., owner of MRI at Belfair, asserted the hospital doesn't see enough patients to warrant a permanent unit. A former chairman of the Committee on MRI Accreditation for the American College of Radiology, Borelli also contended the investment required to install the machine would drive up health care costs.
However, the hospital and the state health department's top planning official have said immediate access to magnetic resonance imaging is necessary for hospitals to offer acceptable care.
Coastal Carolina Hospital CEO Bill Masterton praised the appellate court's ruling.
"This decision affirmed the Administrative Law Court's prior decision that the claims made by MRI at Belfair were not supported by the law or the facts," Masterton said. "Most importantly, this decision means that Coastal will continue to operate its MRI and have this essential diagnostic tool available to care for our patients."
Plans called for a $3.2 million addition to the hospital to house new MRI equipment. That project was stalled for more than two years by a series of legal actions by competitor MRI at Belfair, a private imaging company.
A portable MRI, inside a semitrailer stationed just off the hospital's main corridor, was added in late 2006 to accommodate patients until a fixed indoor imaging unit could be installed. Coastal Carolina received state approval but later changed its plans to make the mobile unit permanent, saving the hospital more than $2 million, documents indicated.
Borelli said the state erred in granting approval for the in-house facility. In 2008, the S.C. Supreme Court agreed and remanded the case to an administrative law court to determine whether Coastal Carolina's application complied with state criteria.
MRI at Belfair later dropped that case and later claimed that changing a $3.2 million in-house project to an $800,000 MRI in a semitrailer was substantially different, creating a new project subject to separate state approval.
The administrative law court disagreed. Borelli appealed, and the S.C. Court of Appeals affirmed the administrative court's decision.
Borelli said Thursday that Coastal Carolina should have been required to apply for a separate permit to make the mobile unit permanent.
"They need to submit an application for the project that reflects reality," he said. "This ruling undermines the whole integrity of the process."
He said he has not decided if he will appeal.
Follow reporter Tom Barton at twitter.com/EyeOnHiltonHead.
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