State regulators have given a preliminary green light to healthcare changes already instituted here in the Boothbay region.

On March 13, the Department of Health and Human Services issued its preliminary staff analysis, which concludes that creation of Lincoln County Healthcare in 2008 and the merger of Miles Memorial and St. Andrews Hospitals in 2013 meet the state Certificate of Need (CON) process requirements.

The public now has 15 days to comment on DHHS’s preliminary analysis and conclusions. DHHS will accept public comments until 5 p.m. on April 3. After the CON public comment period has ended, DHHS staff will prepare the final findings and recommendations for Commissioner Mary Mayhew’s signature.

The 61-page preliminary analysis includes much of the information LCH provided in its application, as well as independent analyses by DHHS staff. The findings conclude LCH is fit, willing and able to provide services, that the healthcare services are economically feasible, that there is a public need for the services, and that the project is “consistent with the orderly and economic development of health facilities and health resources for the state.”

LCH CEO Jim Donovan said the preliminary findings and conditions came as no surprise.

“We were confident we could meet the requirements,” Donovan said. “It’s no surprise, but like any regulatory process, it took longer than we had hoped.”

Donovan also said DHHS has extended LincolnHealth’s temporary hospital license, due to expire on April 1, until September 30, so there will be no break in licensing.

Two conditions are attached to the DHHS findings. The first requires LCH to report to DHHS every 90 days until Medicare approves or denies LCH’s request to relocate St. Andrews critical access hospital designation to the Miles campus in Damariscotta. The second condition requires regular reports on quality and outcome measures related to the healthcare organization’s efforts to reduce smoking-related diseases, diabetes, substance abuse, mental health issues and other chronic diseases.

Donovan said the two conditions will be easily met.

“We track the quality and outcomes information anyway as it is essential to our community health needs assessment,” Donovan said. “The condition will simply require us to put the information into a different format.”

In November DHHS indicated it would seek punitive fines against MaineHealth for the late CON filing. In a March 14 email, DHHS Director of Public Communications John Martins said the matter had been settled. Martins said the original fine of $17,500 was eliminated in exchange for the information MaineHealth and Lincoln County Healthcare provided for the CON review.

“The goal of imposing the fines was not to be punitive in nature, but to encourage compliance with CON laws, which was achieved as a result of the settlement,” Martins said.

Jane Good of the Boothbay Region Health and Wellness Foundation said on Friday that the foundation is still reviewing the preliminary analysis and will submit a rebuttal. 

“We have 15 days to respond and we are going to take advantage of that opportunity,” Good said. “We are pleased to see that DHHS recognizes the continuing need for skilled nursing beds on the peninsula, and even further that they provide supporting statistics. We are, however, disappointed that the issue of 24-hour urgent care was not addressed.”

Related: State regulators will review Lincoln County Healthcare changes