Maine's MaineGeneral Medical Center is seeking approval to build a new regional inpatient hospital adjacent to the Harold Alfond Center for Cancer Care in Augusta and update the Thayer Campus in Waterville.
A Certificate of Need application, filed with the state, seeks approval for the $322 million project by June 2010. If that occurs, construction would begin in the fall of 2011 and the new hospital would open in 2015.
Officials have stressed the need for a new, consolidated inpatient facility, saying the model is far more efficient than the current two-campus inpatient system. The project would be financed through equity downpayments from MaineGeneral, fund-raising and hospital bonds and loans that would be paid back over 30 years.
The project includes $10 million in renovations to Waterville's Thayer Campus, which will remain an outpatient hospital with a full-time emergency department.
"With two campuses, MaineGeneral physicians can be on call twice as often as their colleagues in other parts of the country," said Scott Bullock, MaineGeneral's president and chief executive officer. "That puts MaineGeneral at a competitive disadvantage in recruiting and retaining top professionals.
Since opening the Harold Alfond Center for Cancer Care in 2007, MaineGeneral has seen patient volumes rise by 20 percent and added three oncologists and a thoracic surgeon.
If the project is approved, the total number of inpatient beds would decrease from 287 to 226. Officials say investments in preventive care would lower emergency department and inpatient stays and reduce the need for beds.
"This project is really a win-win scenario for the Kennebec Valley," said Chuck Hays, president and chief executive officer of MaineGeneral Medical Center. "It assures that we will have high-quality healthcare in our region for generations to come, and the project would have a major economic impact at a time when the local economy could use a boost."
MaineGeneral employs more than 3,500 workers in Waterville, Augusta and other locations.