Proponents of PeaceHealth Medical Center expect the state Department of Health to issue a certificate of need by the end of February.
The certificate is a determination that there is a need for a hospital on San Juan Island. Once that certificate is obtained, proponents will complete their fund-raising, the purchase of the property will be completed and design of the new hospital, proposed near the airport, will begin. The hospital is expected to open in 2012.
That’s according to the update provided by Charlie Anderson to the Friday Harbor Port Commission, Jan. 13 at Ernie’s Café.
The San Juan County Public Hospital Commission, which operates Inter Island Medical Center and San Juan EMS, voted 5-0 March 18 to give PeaceHealth authority to build and operate a hospital on San Juan Island for 50 years. The commission assigned governance of the hospital to a governing board to be appointed by PeaceHealth; the governing board takes over when the hospital opens and Inter Island Medical Center closes.
PeaceHealth will receive more than $1 million a year — about $60 million over the life of the contract — in local property tax revenues to subsidize health care.
In light of declining Medicare reimbursements for fee-for-service clinics – service at IIMC is reimbursed at a doctor’s visit rate – and the fact that islanders must travel to the mainland for many services, commissioners said they saw no alternative to the PeaceHealth agreement other than to raise property taxes.
According to the contract approved in March, PeaceHealth will bear two-thirds of the cost of buying land for and building the hospital, estimated at $29.8 million. One-third of the cost will be raised philanthropically by the San Juan Community Hospital Committee.
Property taxes now paid to the hospital district will be passed on to PeaceHealth to subsidize healthcare services.
PeaceHealth will build an EMS facility at the new hospital and sell it to the hospital district, which will presumably use proceeds from the current Inter Island Medical Center property. PeaceHealth will be responsible for all financial liability of the hospital.
Anderson, who is a member of the Community Hospital Committee, said $6 million in philanthropy has been raised since June and he expects the remainder to be raised in spring.
Addressing port-related concerns:
— Anderson said the hospital doesn’t expect to be affected by noise from the airport. “Airport noise will be mitigated in the construction of the hospital,” he said.
— The hospital will want emergency access to the airport on Franklin Drive. Public access to the hospital will be on San Juan Valley Road.
— The hospital will connect to the town sewer system behind Island Air’s hangar, on airport property, but doing so will require an easement from the port.
— Annexation is expected to take two to three months. The site is outside town limits but within the town’s urban growth area.
— PeaceHealth proposes paying for the costs of upgrading the pumps at the town’s water tank at Spring Street and Marguerite Place, to improve water pressure. The hospital will use the amount of water used by 22 homes.
PeaceHealth is a non-profit healthcare system that operates St. Joseph Hospital in Bellingham, as well as other healthcare facilities in Alaska, Oregon and Washington.
Services that will be provided at Peace Island Medical Center: Outpatient surgery, chemotherapy, cardiology, diagnostics and imaging, gastroenterology, oncology, rheumatology, and treatment for body injuries and neurological degenerative disorders.
Patients will able to stay in Peace Island for observation and short-term care after surgeries. There will be 10 hospital beds.
Inpatient surgeries will still be referred to mainland hospitals. Heart attack and stroke patients will still be taken to mainland hospitals. Babies will still be born on the mainland.
The medical center will be about 42,242 square feet, including 24,492 square feet of clinic space for doctors and specialists. Inpatient and outpatient space will comprise 14,250 square feet; the emergency department would comprise 3,500 square feet. The staff will grow from 25.3 full-time equivalents to 44.5.
