The state has cited a recent federal investigation involving the death of a 76-year-old man at a Franklin County hospital as one reason its request to move from the center of Franklin to its frontier with Wake County was denied, in a report released Monday.

The report from the state office that gives permission to hospitals in North Carolina to move or expand said the federal investigation was proof that Franklin Regional Medical Center had not provided a past record of quality care.

The state Certificate of Need section cited the March report from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that centered on elective surgical procedures at the hospital. As a result of the report, CMS threatened to pull federal funding to treat poor and elderly patients at Franklin Regional.

The CMS report "provides a statement of deficiencies with identification of immediate jeopardy and failure to conform to Medicare Conditions of Participation," read the Certificate of Need reply to Franklin Regional. "Therefore, the applicants have not adequately demonstrated that quality care has been provided in the past."

State may investigate

Other fallout from the CMS report could include an N.C. Medical Board investigation into the conduct of individual physicians related to the report. A representative of the medical board would not confirm a specific investigation into the findings of the federal report but said the board had a policy of always investigating instances that lead to federal investigations.

The Certificate of Need report goes on to validate other criticisms that opponents of the Franklin Regional move have made.

Critics of the relocation have said the hospital's move would leave people in the rural parts of Franklin County miles farther from help in an emergency.

According to the state report, the move would "relocate the hospital approximately 16 miles and 25 minutes driving time to the south and west from the existing site, and within 3 miles of the Franklin-Wake County border ... [significantly increasing] travel times for residents in the northern and eastern portions of the county that need the hospital's services."

In total the joint proposal submitted by Franklin Regional, its parent company Health Management Associates and Rex Healthcare failed several criteria for the move to be allowed.

Those arguments were presented again Monday in a news conference with members of the General Assembly. Rep. Alma Adams, a Guilford Democrat and head of the Legislative Black Caucus, asked HMA and Franklin Regional to stay in Louisburg.

Adams asked in a speech "for Health Management Associates and its partners to rethink their proposal."

Mary Green Johnson, mayor pro tempore of Louisburg, echoed Adams' comments at the conference with other caucus members.

"I would like to see us sit down with the hospital and come to a good agreement," she said.

Adams was joined by Rep. Lucy T. Allen, a Franklin County Democrat and a former mayor of Louisburg, who also spoke against the move.

Allen took UNC Healthcare, Rex's sole owner, to task for not living up to its stated mission in supporting the hospital move.

"They did not regard the fact it was the mission of the UNC Hospitals to serve the rural areas," Allen said Monday.

'That's our goal'

Responding to the report and the statements of the caucus, a hospital spokeswoman said the hospital was committed to quality health care for all residents of Franklin County.

"We have a 56-year track record of serving everyone," Bonnie Little of Franklin Regional said Monday. "That's our goal."

Little and Rex spokeswoman Lisa Schiller said both organizations needed to evaluate the full report before they decide whether to appeal.

Franklin Regional is appealing a denial for a similar move proposed last year.