Local healthcare advocates gathered at McSeagull’s in Boothbay Harbor the night of May 29 to celebrate the state’s decision to require St. Andrews Urgent Care facility to operate 24 hours a day for at least 18 months. St. Andrews Urgent Care Center has been open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. since October 2013 when St. Andrews 24 hour emergency department was closed.

“Everybody was just joyful,” Margaret Jones Perritt said. “We all had a very good time.”

The state’s certificate of need (CON) approval for the creation of Lincoln County Healthcare and merger of Miles and St. Andrews Hospital was granted this week with conditions, including the maintenance of 24-hour urgent care facilities in Boothbay Harbor.

Under the CON conditions, St. Andrews’ urgent care facilities must be kept open 24/7 for a minimum of three years, unless Lincoln County Healthcare can demonstrate that the facility’s use is causing significant financial losses. Prior to this state condition, there was no state or federal requirement that would have assured the facility remain open.

“I’m delighted, but with reservations,” Tom Hagan said. “It’s interesting that the state condition is all about the money. They (LCH) can easily show the urgent care’s losing money, but at least for 18 months they will need to keep it open.”

Boothbay Region Health and Wellness Foundation President Patty Seybold said she was surprised and happy with the state’s decision. “The good news is we have 18 more months and there will be lots of utilization data.”

Although pleased with the urgent care condition, Seybold and Hagan said they were both disappointed the state decision did not address governance of Lincoln County Healthcare.

“We remained concerned that 50 percent of the board are employees and doctors,” Seybold said. “We need much better representation by patients and local residents on the board.”

The CON briefing memo noted that Lincoln County has a relatively low number of nursing beds for its elderly population but suggested that re-licensing of existing beds at St. Andrews Village would address the deficit. Perritt said considering those existing beds are usually full,  re-licensing alone will not meet the local demand for skilled inpatient beds.

"I very much appreciate that Augusta recognized that we need this. This is huge," Jane good said. “But we still don't have an answer from anybody on this retroactive CON." Good said she will continue to press for an Attorney General ruling on the legality of approving a CON for an action that has already occurred.

“This decision is a very good step,” Perritt said, “but we have to get beds down here.”

LCH CEO Jim Donovan was unavailable for comment on Friday but Development, Marketing and Communications Vice President Scott Shott said LCH is evaluating the intent of the conditional approval and weighing its options.

“We are surprised by the condition requiring LCH to provide urgent care services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,” Shott said. “Our analysis concluded that an urgent care center operating 12 hours a day was indeed in the best health interests of the community. We are working to understand the requirement by the Certificate of Need Unit for this additional investment in service delivery.”

Shott also said LCH agrees that more skilled beds are needed in the Boothbay Region and has filed a letter of intent with the state for 10 more beds to be located at St. Andrews Village. That proposal, if approved by the LCH Board, will also require a CON.