Certifiably worth it?

State scrutinizes merits of hospital project as site preparation continues

By Darryl Swan

The South County Spotlight, Aug 19, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

Darryl Swan / The South County Spotlight

The proposed Columbia River Community Hospital where site preparation has begun in Warren on Millard Road.

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In the muggy-hot conference room where 45 people gathered at the Columbia Learning Center in St. Helens on Aug. 12, there was only one person Columbia Health District planners had to convince of their hospital project’s viability.

That would be Dr. Grant Higginson, state public health officer for the recently formed Oregon Health Authority, which oversees state health practices.

In the universe where proposed medical facilities in Oregon are either blessed or condemned to plans-gone-awry purgatory, Higginson is a god.

Approval of the hospital group’s certificate of need application almost guarantees hospital construction will move forward, while a denial could lead to the project’s undoing.

Flanked on his left by financial and architectural consultants hired by DHS to advise him, Higginson heard arguments for and against the hospital project in what could be characterized as the first open debate on its merits.

Following a second public meeting planned for late September, Higginson is expected to decide the health district’s certificate of need application by Oct. 22.

Proponents argued the hospital would fill a service gap in south Columbia County, and would lessen the burden on St. Helens and Scappoose ambulance services now operating at the edge of capacity. Some said it would be a beacon to medical professionals who would be drawn to it, hence forming a new business niche for south Columbia County.

Opponents said the $28 million hospital, which will be constructed using loan financing resulting in repayment totaling $46.8 million over 30 years, is a waste of taxpayer dollars and would be built using a flawed funding scenario. Funding projections for the hospital have undergone multiple revisions in light of Medicare reimbursement assumptions that have not panned out.

The opposition also argued instead for expanded — and less expensive — services via Legacy Health System’s existing urgent care clinic in St. Helens.

Despite the critics, hospital planners later said they are confident Higginson will decide in their favor and award the project a certificate of need.

“My own confidence is not shaken,” said Pam Powell, a spokeswoman for the hospital project. “The [health district’s] mission is to increase access to health care for our local residents. The voters gave us the mission to build a small local hospital. The health district is continuing to do the right thing and move toward those goals.”

Madalene Anderson, a nurse practitioner at the urgent care clinic, hopes they don’t succeed. Anderson so far is the only person who has received affected-party status from the state, a designation that gives her certain privileges, including appeal authority over the certificate of need decision. If the hospital is built, it will likely result in the loss of her job, she said.

Beyond the immediate job-loss effect, however, Anderson said she does not believe the hospital is what’s needed in the community.

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