Cancer hospital company abandons bid to expand in GA

A cancer hospital company dropped a longshot bid Tuesday to win permission from lawmakers to expand its patient base in the state. Illinois-based Cancer Treatment Centers of America suggested in a statement that it might try again in the next legislative session. The company had sought to persuade lawmakers to let it go back on two pledges that sealed a deal with them in 2008 that cleared the way for a center in Newnan. Georgia hospitals vehemently opposed CTCA's expansion plans, casting that as an attempt to circumvent Georgia's "certificate of need" system that, among other things, regulates construction of new hospitals.