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State holds off on ruling for new hospital

By Betty Adams badams@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

AUGUSTA -- The state has delayed a decision on whether MaineGeneral Medical Center can build a new regional hospital to replace inpatient operations in Augusta and Waterville.

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The lights from exit 113 off Interstate 95 can be seen, at right, behind MaineGeneral's Harold Alfond Center for Cancer Care recently in north Augusta. MaineGeneral wants to construct a new hospital adjacent to the campus.

Staff file photo by Joe Phelan

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The state Division of Licensing & Regulatory Services, which is reviewing the application, says it needs more information on the proposal.

Catherine Cobb, division director, said the record will be reopened for 60 days starting Friday.

"We have some things we feel we need to talk to the applicant about to get greater clarity," she said.

Chuck Hays, chief executive officer of MaineGeneral Medical Center, said hospital officials are anxious to hear the questions and provide the answers.

"We're still confident it's the right project, and it will be approved," Hays said on Wednesday.

Hays said hospital officials are prohibited from contact with state regulators while the Certificate of Need application for the $322 million hospital project is under review. Reopening the record allows contact, and permits the hospital to submit new information.

MaineGeneral wants a new hospital adjacent to the campus of the Harold Alfond Center for Cancer Care in north Augusta.

The 226-bed inpatient hospital is to be built on 165 acres between Old Belgrade Road and Interstate 95. The plan also calls for $10 million in renovations to MaineGeneral Medical Center's Thayer campus in Waterville, which would remain open as an outpatient facility with 24-hour emergency services.

Hays said he had no idea about what kind of information regulators are seeking.

"Certainly this is the largest project they've ever reviewed," he said. "Now that they've gotten into the detail, they have more questions."

Hays said the new hospital project has received "a tremendous amount of support from the community, as well as from the (congressional) delegation."

Cobb would not provide specifics about the kind of information needed, saying staff had to first pose those questions to MaineGeneral Medical Center personnel.

"We're preparing a list of things we'd like to talk about," she said.

Cobb said the analysis of the application is "95 percent complete."

Once the new information is gathered and the record closes again, Cobb said the staff will release a preliminary report. "The applicant has 10 days to respond, and then the commissioner makes the decision," she said.

Cobb said new information can be included in the reopened record as well, such as information about a House committee approving $1 million toward construction of a new exit on I-95 to serve the new hospital.

U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, announced that development in a prepared statement on Wednesday.

In January, state regulators held hearings in both Waterville and Augusta to get public testimony on the pending Certificate of Need application from MaineGeneral. Almost all the public comments were supportive.

Betty Adams -- 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com