A proposal by representatives of Pen Bay Healthcare and Waldo County Healthcare to form a new parent company to oversee hospitals and related organizations in Knox and Waldo counties must go through a formal certificate of need process.
The two organizations announced a month ago their plan to merge the healthcare corporations. After consulting with the Attorney General’s Office, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services decided the proposal would have to go through the formal regulatory review process to receive approval, according to David Sorensen, DHHS director of media relations and policy research.
That process can take several months and requires public notice and possibly a public hearing. The final decision on whether the merger can occur will rest with the commissioner.
The proposed new corporation would replace the currently separate Pen Bay and Waldo County healthcare boards. The new corporation would have a board consisting of equal representation from the two existing organizations. The new organization would be a member of MaineHealth, which operates numerous hospitals and affiliated health care companies across the state, including Maine Medical Center in Portland.
The 99-bed Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport and 25-bed Waldo County General Hospital in Belfast will be under that new parent corporation but will remain separate hospitals with their own operations and medical staff, according to a news release last month from MaineHealth. The creation of the new parent corporation is pending any regulatory requirements from the state and federal government.
MaineHealth said this formal partnership of being under one corporation would allow both organizations and their medical staffs to continue to work closely together to “develop integrated services and operations which will enhance patient care, improve the health of people in the communities they serve and control the rising cost of health care.”
Over the next year, the organization, its medical staffs and the community will be engaged in a strategic planning process to determine local health care needs and how best to meet those needs as one organization, according to MaineHealth.
Pen Bay Healthcare includes Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport as well as Quarry Hill retirement village in Camden, the Knox Center for Long Term Care in Rockland, Kno-Wal-Lin home health and hospice and most of the physician practices in Knox County.
The two organizations already have the same chief executive officer. Mark Biscone has been head of the Waldo County hospital for more than 31 years. He was appointed Pen Bay’s interim CEO in March 2014.
The two midcoast health organizations have successfully integrated more than 40 programs since November, Biscone said last month. The two hospitals are sharing services and positions that include laundry, marketing and communication, nephrology, home health and hospice, urology, vascular surgery, infectious disease physicians, a chief medical information officer, electronic information, a cardiopulmonary department manager, coverage for the radiology manager’s medical leave, a dentist, grant writing, speech therapy, telepsychiatry service, oncology, an echo sonographer and telestroke services.
The sharing of oncology services generated considerable concern last year when it resulted in a reduction of staff oncologists.
Pen Bay became a member of MaineHealth in 2012. Waldo County became part of MaineHealth in 2009.