| The state Department of Health has denied a Certificate of Need for a day surgery center in Gig Harbor proposed by MultiCare. The center was part of an 80,000-square-foot specialty medical center to be built by 2007 near MultiCare's medical center on Point Fosdick.
The medical center will include a Women's Health Center and a Sleep Center, along with other expanded services, and MultiCare officials said plans for that center remain in place because the medical facility itself is not impacted by the Certificate of Need.
MultiCare reportedly planned to appeal the state decision, but a company spokesman declined to confirm the appeal and said MultiCare will announce an update on the facility and the day surgery center in January.
The surgery facility has been opposed by Franciscan Health System, which plans to build a hospital and already operates a day surgery center in Gig Harbor. FHS spokesman Gale Robinette said they will continue to oppose the MultiCare plan.
“There is no need in Gig Harbor for another day surgery center at this time,” he said. “We are asking (the state), let St. Anthony (Hospital) get a healthy start,” then see if a need remains for day surgery.
The two competing organizations have rebutted each other since MultiCare announced its plans last summer, nearly a year after the state had approved the Franciscan hospital. MultiCare officials say they see a need in the area for more surgical suites, and that additional day surgery services would not impact the proposed hospital. However, Franciscan has said the center would greatly impact the hospital, which will already have cost overruns due to construction delays caused by a traffic study that showed traffic issues must be addressed first in Gig Harbor North, where the hospital would be located.
“Almost 50 percent of hospital revenues come from outpatient services,” Robinette said. “The hospital will not be break-even until at least the fourth full year of operation,” and much longer if another day surgery facility is built, he said. | 