The Lincoln County Healthcare Board of Trustees has voted to notify the state that it intends to begin an application process for 10 new Medicare-approved skilled care (rehabilitation) beds at the Gregory Wing at St. Andrews Village.

While St. Andrews Village began offering skilled care in October, the proposed Skilled Services expansion calls for building an addition onto the north side of the existing facility. It would take advantage of the existing infrastructure and staff at the Gregory Wing to create new capacity for residents who need rehabilitation services or therapy following an operation or an illness.

Judy McGuire, Lincoln County Healthcare senior vice president of home health and senior living, cautioned that the Letter of Intent is only the very first part of a long Certificate of Need application process that is by no means certain. “As excited as we all are to get this project going, it’s important for everyone to understand that we have several milestones to reach before we can get underway,” she said.

Lincoln County Healthcare will have to prove to the state that the project is both necessary for the community and financially sustainable over the long term. The next step after submitting the letter of intent is to seek board approvals. If the project is approved, an application could go to the state this summer. If all goes well, the earliest construction could begin would probably be the spring of 2015.

The long-term sustainability of the addition will be one of the most difficult hurdles to pass, said McGuire. MaineCare and Medicare are the two largest payers for nursing home residents and skilled rehabilitation patients in Maine and both offer reimbursement that is well below the cost of providing the services.

The cost of the addition could also make the project cost-prohibitive, she said. If the project receives approval from the state, the Lincoln County Healthcare board hopes to raise part of the necessary funds through a capital campaign, and community support will play a significant role. “A key milestone in this process will be a successful capital campaign feasibility study that will help our board gauge community support for this project. We expect to have the study underway this summer,” she said.

Providing access to these services locally is an important part of Lincoln County Healthcare’s mission, said McGuire, and she said the healthcare services that are provided at St. Andrews Village have always offered high quality care with a local touch.

The Gregory Wing has historically been a nursing facility but this year the state approved a Gregory Wing application to dually license all 30 existing beds for either skilled rehabilitation or nursing care. The plan to add ten more beds, if approved, will significantly expand the capacity of the facility and the types of services offered there.

As part of that expansion, more staff will be hired and existing staff will receive additional training, said McGuire.