Stage set for battle over Brunswick hospital
Brunswick's Mid Coast Hospital has submitted to the state a proposal to merge with Parkview Adventist Medical Center in a continuing fight with Central Maine Healthcare, which has submitted a competing proposal that Mid Coast claims "will forever change the health care landscape in the midcoast region."
Before any merger can be completed, the state must review both proposals and issue a certificate of need.
CMHC and Parkview signed letters of intent in March 2008 to make the Brunswick-based Parkview hospital a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lewiston-based health care system. In late August, CMHC filed its application to the state, in which the Lewiston-based hospital group asserts that officially taking over Parkview would be a "simple but vital change of control transaction."
The proposal submitted by Mid Coast Hospital on Wednesday called such a merger "far from simple."
"The fact that CMHC has already invested over $10 million in PAMC, has a lien on all of PAMC's assets, and currently employs PAMC's CEO, CFO and a significant portion of PAMC's medical staff makes this review very different from any application that has ever been reviewed before," the Mid Coast proposal stated.
Mid Coast claimed its plan would save $24 million annually in health care costs for the region and would include spending $10 million for the creation and endowment of the Parkview Health Trust.
CMHC's proposal would allow it to administer acute care services out of Parkview, which the Mid Coast proposal claimed is unnecessary.
"Mid Coast Health Services clearly demonstrates that there is absolutely no need for two hospitals in the midcoast region," John Morse, chairman of the MCHS board, said in a press release, "and our plan outlines how our region could achieve substantial savings and improvement to the health and well being of the people who live and work in this area."
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