Sacred Heart’s expansion plans thwarted by state

State officials have rejected Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center’s expansion plans to add 152 new patient beds. The decision by the Washington state Department of Health erases a $175 million construction project expected to span several years and employ up to 700 people. “We’re surprised, disappointed and, quite frankly, saddened at this decision,” said Dr. Andrew Agwunobi, chief executive of the Providence Health Care, “because we know the Department of Health is very objective. We also know, of course, that we need the beds.” Executives at Deaconess Medical Center were reserved in praising the state’s denial after accusing Sacred Heart of embarking on an expansion plan that would sabotage Deaconess’ efforts to rebuild. Sacred Heart treated a record number of patients last year. The hospital’s long-range planning team anticipates that the trend will only intensify in coming years as the region’s population grows both in number and ages. The hospital wanted to phase in the new beds, making it the largest hospital in Washington within five years. The project would have reshaped the hospital’s campus by adding four floors to Sacred Heart’s west wing, expanding its emergency room and then topping it with two extra floors. Yet state regulators determined that, when combined, Spokane’s four major hospitals had enough beds to handle the expected rise in patient numbers. Hospitals must gain state approval before adding patient beds. Regulators review a community’s health care system as a whole and weigh the wishes of one hospital against a set of criteria designed to ensure patient safety, access to care and cost containment, said Karen Jensen, DOH assistant secretary for health Systems Quality Assurance. “These are tough decision for us,” she said. The report outlined a patient-bed surplus in Spokane – counter to Sacred Heart’s contentions that more beds were needed. As recently as 2007, the report said, there were up to 308 available patient beds per day between Sacred Heart and Deaconess Medical Center. “We respect the thorough review conducted by the Department of Health and their emphasis placed on ensuring the appropriate number of beds for our community,” Deaconess said in a statement read by spokeswoman Christine Varela. Some of Sacred Heart’s growing patient numbers have come at the expense of in-town rival Deaconess, which has struggled for much of a decade – culminating in the sale of the hospital last fall to for-profit Community Health Systems Inc. “We must conclude that this (Sacred Heart) project is, at its core, an attempt to thwart efforts to rebuild and stabilize Deaconess and Valley Hospitals,” wrote Tim Hingtgen and Dennis Barts, the new chief executives of Deaconess and sister facility Valley Hospital and Medical Center. “Allowing an unnecessary and unneeded expansion of a provider that already has a near 50% market share at a time when two other hospitals are preparing to launch initiatives, programs, and services that will provide them stability is inconsistent” with state rules. Agwunobi declined to comment on the Deaconess protest. He intends to review the 41-page decision before deciding whether to ask DOH for reconsideration, or file an appeal within 28 days. The state did award Sacred Heart approval to add 21 beds to its neonatal intensive care unit. Agwunobi said the hospital will look at the entirety of its master planning objectives and the state decision before deciding if or when to bring the infant care beds online. Sacred Heart last applied for more beds in 1980. That Certificate of Need request, for 96 psychiatric beds and 30 acute care beds was approved, according to DOH records. The new request, Agwunobi said, would have served the region for the next 20 to 30 years. And it would have packed financial punch during the recession. “When, during difficult times a faith-based health system commits to spending hundreds of millions of dollars for the community, and in the community, and the jobs provided for that … and then we’re denied the ability to do that? It’s sad,” Agwunobi said. “This is not a good day for health care in Spokane.”