MaineGeneral plans new hospital
MaineGeneral Health yesterday unveiled a plan six years in the works to build a consolidated hospital in Augusta and close three of its inpatient facilities in the capitol and in Waterville.
MaineGeneral would close its Thayer and Seton inpatient units in Waterville and its Augusta downtown location if state regulators approved the consolidated hospital, according to the Kennebec Journal. The hospital would be built on 160 acres of land that the organization owns at the Alfond Center for Cancer Care, and if approved would open in 2014. The hospital's board of directors yesterday voted to wait until December 2009 to file a certificate of need with the state to allow the health care organization time to stabilize its finances. MaineGeneral lost an estimated $13 million for the fiscal year that ended June 30.
Waterville Mayor Paul LePage told the paper he was not surprised at MaineGeneral's move to consolidate inpatient services in Augusta, and said he will work to strengthen the city's Inland Hospital as a result. (MaineGeneral and Inland in the past have floated competing hospital proposals in Waterville. For more see the Mainebiz article "Cross-town rivals".)
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