Commentary
by Dave Shellenbarger, Estancia
New Hospital Application Submitted for Coconut Point Location
Did you ever work on something pretty big for a long time, and have it finally happen? On February 20 the South Lee County Hospital Committee (SLCHC) had that experience, when its five executive committee members met with Lee Memorial Health System (LMHS) management. The news was that LMHS was submitting a letter of intent to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (ACHA) to build an 80-bed hospital on 33 acres of LMHS-owned land south of Coconut Point near the Bonita Community Health Center. The application will cause beds unused and licensed in Ft. Myers to be transferred to a new facility to serve south county residents. If the application is approved, construction on the new hospital could begin as early as 2014.
SLCHC had pursued the goal of a local hospital for over five years, but it took a decision by Health Management Associates (HMA) to file a letter of intent on February 4 to move their Lehigh hospital to southeastern Lee County to move up LMHS’s timetable for a south county facility. HMA’s application started a 16-day window for an entity to file a competing letter of intent. In essence, LMHS had to respond with their own plan by February 20, which they did. Other health care providers, like Naples Community Health System (NCH), have an economic interest in all this as well and may object to either or both of the new applications.
All Bonita Bay residents have a stake in this. Nearby healthcare is very important to all of us, and approval of the LMHS application would provide a new, modern health care facility much closer to our homes. The HMA application would probably locate the facility near the airport and FGCU, which is over ten miles north and east of Bonita Bay. The committee’s goal from the beginning has been to bring expanded health care as close as possible to Bonita Springs and Estero, due to our growing population and aging demographics, and the LMHS proposal clearly fills this need in the best way. The SLCHC strongly supports the LMHS application, and does not support the HMA proposal.
New federal health care regulations also influence our need to support the LMHS proposal. In the next few years, hospitals will take responsibility for all residents in their service area, and will be reimbursed under the Affordable Health Care Act in a fixed amount per resident. If the hospital keeps its resident population “healthy”, they will require less care and the hospital will have lower costs because fewer services will be required. If that population needs more care, the hospital will have to provide their care with no increase in revenue. Residents of south Lee County are currently served by LMHS and by NCH, which puts us in a sort of “no man’s land” where we may be claimed by both hospital systems as “theirs”. Regardless of who wins that one, our care provider will still be a considerable distance away, unless we are successful in supporting construction of this local facility that is convenient and new.
Health care is in turmoil and the state agency charged with making a decision on the hospital proposals, ACHA, may approve one, both or neither of the pending applications. Further, the LMHS land near the BCHC will need to be re-purposed under the original Coconut Point development plan, and then re-zoned for use as a hospital location. But it’s very important that our community support this application in every way possible, because it will create a path to improved local health care for all of us!
Residents can register their support for the LMHS hospital by writing or emailing the Agency for Healthcare Administration before April 1, 2013.
Letters should be addressed to:
Jeffrey N. Gregg, Chief
Bureau of Health Facility Regulation
James McLemore, Supervisor
Certificate of Need Office
Agency for Health Care Administration
2727 Mahan Drive, Bldg. 3
Tallahassee, FL 32308
and mailed to:
Kevin Newingham
8300 College Parkway, Suite 200
Fort Myers, Fl 33919
or emailed to:
Sample Letter:
Jeffrey N. Gregg, Chief
Bureau of Health Facility Regulation
James McLemore, Supervisor
Certificate of Need Office
Agency for Health Care Administration
2727 Mahan Drive, Bldg. 3
Tallahassee, FL 32308
RE: Lee Memorial Health System’s CON Application to establish a new hospital
in Southern Lee County, Florida.Dear Mr. Gregg and Mr. McLemore:
I am writing to you today to support the new hospital proposed by the Lee Memorial Health System to be located in the Bonita Springs and Estero area of Lee County, Florida.Lee Memorial is committed to serving our community, and especially the less fortunate. Lee Memorial has shown that they are dedicated to providing quality care. Knowing the quality and commitment of Lee Memorial urges me to support their proposal to develop a new hospital and have confidence it would be a quality program.The southern portions of Lee County have been growing, and by all reports are expected to continue to grow. We believe that locating the new hospital in the area between Bonita Springs and Estero will make a hospital more accessible to meet the community’s needs.Lee Memorial has been active in providing services to this community, including the Bonita Community Health Center which is adjacent to the site of its proposed new hospital. Lee Memorial’s executives purchased the land for the hospital several years ago and have had ongoing discussions with local officials and organizations over the years as to how to meet the needs of the local community. I am pleased to support Lee Memorial’s proposed new hospital./s/
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