With the closing of its emergency room in October 2013, St. Andrews Hospital was expected to lose its hospital license and its critical access subsidy under Medicare.  Today, April 19, Lincoln County Healthcare CEO Jim Donovan said the local healthcare organization is now looking to reorganize so it can keep St. Andrews Hospital’s critical access designation.

Critical access hospitals are remotely located hospitals with fewer than 25 beds that receive 101 percent reimbursement from Medicare. Although St. Andrews Hospital is closer to the nearest hospital than the critical access standard, it was one of several hospitals specially designated by state governor nomination in 1999.

The loss of critical access subsidy, over $1 million annually, has been a source of contention since LCH announced its intention last August to relinquish St. Andrews’ hospital license.

“We exist to offer accessible healthcare services in Lincoln County and our services are only accessible if people can afford them,” Donovan wrote in a press release. “We believe there’s a chance we can reduce our overall hospital charges by 15 percent if a new idea proves workable with state and federal agencies.”

That new idea would have hospital services at both St. Andrews Hospital and Miles Memorial Hospital operating under St. Andrews Hospital license. Under this plan, not only would St. Andrews retain its lucrative critical access designation, that designation would be extended to Miles Memorial Hospital.

In LCH's press release, Donovan estimated the merger under St. Andrews license could provide $3.5 to $6 million in additional federal dollars across the LCH system.

Donovan said LCH is working with both state and federal officials to determine the idea’s feasibility and that it is far from a certainty.

“There remains a number of issues we need to address,” Donovan wrote. “We’re bringing this idea to light because the communities we serve have made it clear that they want to be kept informed about our deliberations and ideas before decisions are made.”

Donovan said the change, if approved, would not affect current plans to convert the 24-hour emergency room at St. Andrews to a 12-hour urgent care facility.

Miles Memorial Hospital would have to reduce its number of hospital beds from 38 to 25 to be consistent with the critical access hospital definition. Miles Memorial averages a daily census of 20 beds, Donovan said.

Sue Mello can be reached at 207-844-4629 or sumello@boothbayregister.com.