Lawmakers could take a look next year at reforming an approval process that has kept Gaffney residents from seeing the benefit of a proposed cancer treatment center.

State Sen. Harvey Peeler said a couple of bills will be filed in December aimed at changing a state law regarding how hospitals receive approval for new medical projects.

Hospitals must currently apply to the state Department of Health and Environmental and Control (DHEC) for a Certificate of Need before building medical facilities and purchasing equipment. Proponents argue the state health plan is designed to ensure health care resources are equally distributed.

The state Senate Medical Affairs Committee has discussed legislation that would streamline the Certificate of Need process or eliminate it completely, Peeler said.

"It's cumbersome, expensive and the patients are the ones who really suffer by not having access to the health care they need," said Peeler, chairman of the Senate Medical Affairs Committee. "Locally, there are Cherokee County residents who have to travel to Spartanburg five days a week for cancer treatment. I think there should be more cancer-fighting equipment available, not less."

Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System (SRHS) and Cancer Centers of the Carolinas are in the fifth year of a prolonged court battle over the placement of a linear accelerator, which is used to provide radiation treatment for cancer patients.

The ongoing legal action has held up a 2003 project where Gibbs Regional Cancer Center, which is operated by Spartanburg Regional, planned to partner with Upstate Carolina Medical Center to build a cancer treatment center in Gaffney.

This isn't the only area where the Certificate of Need process has become a health care issue.

State lawmakers were unsuccessful in reversing a 2004 decision where DHEC denied Lexington Medical Center permission to open a third open heart surgery unit in Columbia. DHEC had cited decreasing demand for heart surgeries in denying Lexington's application for a Certificate of Need.

Gov. Mark Sanford vetoed a bill that would have amended the state health plan so the Lexington hospital could open an open heart surgery unit.