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CON FILED (continued)

The hospital developer noted that the role of a small community hospital is to be a first responder, feeding complicated patients to Maui Memorial Medical Center or specialized hospitals once they are stabilized. 

WMMC is meant to be a general community hospital to provide timely access to emergency and acute care services to an area that is geographically isolated from the only acute care facility on the island.

WMHMC has also been designed to reduce emergency visits to Maui Memorial from West Maui residents, visitors and commuters and to reduce extended wait times.

 The 2.5-inch thick application asks permission to build a 53,900 sq. ft. acute emergency care hospital with 19 medical surgical beds, six critical care telemetry beds for patients requiring a high level of skilled nursing care , six emergency bays and three operating rooms to carry out emergency procedures for trauma victims and cardiac and other critical cases.

The 40-bed free standing 20,000 square feet skilled nursing facility  is specifically designed to accept those patients who are waitlisted today and being treated at Maui Memorial Medical Center until another facility can take them.  Hoyle believes could potentially save Maui Memorial $6-million annually. Hoyle believes that it could potentially save Maui Memorial over $6 million annually.” The nursing facility would be operated by Mission Health Services, an 18-year-old nonprofit based in Utah.

Support services for trauma patients received in the emergency room would include advanced MRI, CT and ultrasound diagnostic services, a laboratory with blood bank, radiology services, physical and occupational therapy capability, an inpatient pharmacy, and cafeteria. 

The hospital would be operated by Southwest Health Group, and owned and financed by Newport Hospital Corporation, administrator of successful hospitals in 10 states.

The proposed West Maui Hospital and Medical Center would accept all patients regardless of ability to pay. 

Three operating suites would respond to critically ill patients requiring life saving procedures but would not perform cardiac or neurosurgery. Emergency diagnosis of persons with acute problems such as drug alcohol and psychiatric issues would stabilize patients before transfer to other facilities within the state system.

Hoyle’s application calls for construction to begin in November 2009, with a hospital opening 18 months later. 

According to the application, the proposed small community hospital would:

• Complement the existing health care services available on Maui and work a closely with the much larger Maui Memorial Medical Center, feeding complicated patients to MMMC or specialized hospitals.
• Reduce the current strain on Emergency Services provided by Maui Memorial Medical Center by providing timely alternative emergency services to the West Maui population.
• Be financially feasible in the short and long term because the developer has the required    financial assets and the project would be a critical care facility. Critical care hospitals receive 100 percent Medicaid/Medicare reimbursement, a key element in keeping the hospital financially viable.  Critical care status would also mean that Maui Memorial

Medical Center would not lose any federal funding. 

• Represent the most cost-effective method of providing emergency acute care and skilled nursing and intensive care services to the West Maui community
• Be operated by a management firm (Southwest Health Group) that has a proven track record providing acute care and skilled nursing services.
• Seek local physician partners but also have access to a nationwide network of physicians, nurses and health care personnel who have expressed strong interest in relocating to Maui

The hospital would be located on 14.5 acres of land overlooking the ocean and the West Maui Mountains adjacent to the Lahaina Civic Center and given to the West Maui Improvement Foundation by Ka’anapali Land Development Corporation. All steps have been taken to secure proper zoning.

In reviewing the need for the hospital, the West Maui Improvement Foundation has frequently stressed the need for acute care patients to receive treatment within the so-called golden hour.  West Maui’s daily population of 65,000 residents, visitors and commuters is more than an hour and 21 miles from the only emergency care hospital on Maui.

Southwest Health Group, based in Spring, Texas is the developer or owner of more than 30 medical facilities in 10 states.  Hoyle, based in Newport Beach, CA, has roots in Maui going back to the 1960s, and a principal of Southwest Health Group and owner of Newport Hospital Corp.