By October 1, 2013, MaineHealth intends to relocate St. Andrews Hospital from Boothbay Harbor to Damariscotta and merge it with Miles Memorial Hospital. As a result, emergency services will be located in Damariscotta, as will 25 inpatient beds.

This will reduce the number of hospital beds for all of Lincoln County from the current 63 down to 25. That is a ratio of .04 beds per 1,000 people, which is equivalent to Afghanistan. The ratio in the rest of Maine is 2.5 beds per 1,000 people. Lincoln County has the most elderly population in Maine, and the Boothbay peninsula has the highest median age with 62 percent of our residents over, or nearing, 65.

Lincoln County Healthcare commissioned a healthcare needs study from Navigant in 2012. According to that study, 52 beds were needed in 2009 and 45 beds would still be needed in Lincoln County by 2015.

It is the opinion of the Boothbay Region Health & Wellness Foundation that this reduction in the number of hospital beds may have disastrous consequences for the people in the region.

Yet, Medicare has already given its preliminary approval for the hospital “relocation.” After about a year, Medicare will evaluate whether the newly merged hospital is in compliance with Medicare relocation regulations. And if it is not, the hospital will lose its Medicare provider license.

The Wellness Foundation is not convinced that the merged hospital will be in compliance with these relocation regulations and has expressed that concern to Daniel Kristola, the Branch Chief of the Certification & Enforcement Branch of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in Boston, and to other state and federal regulators.

We are hopeful that increased scrutiny by Medicare will cause MaineHealth management and the Trustees of St. Andrews and Miles Memorial Hospitals to reconsider this plan.