Wahiawa Hospital move
goes to next levelA certificate of need application
is filed to relocate the facility
to a Waipio site at Koa Ridge
The Wahiawa Hospital Association has filed a certificate of need application with the Hawaii State Health Planning and Development Agency to relocate Wahiawa General hospital to 210 acres it plans to lease in Waipio from Castle & Cooke Homes.
The developer of the project, Pacific Health Community Inc., is a subsidiary of the nonprofit hospital association.
The application, filed Sept. 2, must meet all criteria established by the agency before being granted approval. Based on past applications of this magnitude, that process could take months.
Certificate of need applications are judged on a number of criteria including how the proposed project meets the needs of the community it serves and how any change to existing services would affect the community.
Special emphasis is given to the needy, elderly and disabled in the community. In the case of a facility closure, or a reduction or relocation of services, applicants would have to show how the change would impact the population it now serves.
The association's plans for the so-called Pacific Health Center, which go back several years, do not include moving the Wahiawa skilled nursing facility. Instead the plan would be to maintain an urgent care facility along with the skilled nursing unit at the present hospital site, while the current 59 acute care beds at the facility would be moved to the Waipio site at Koa Ridge.
The group hopes to create what they are calling "Pacific Health Community." Along with a hospital, there would be sports medicine and women's health facilities, a diagnostic treatment center, a medical mall, a senior care facility and a research and education component.
At one time, the group had hoped the University of Hawaii would relocate its medical school to the area, but the site under construction in Kakaako was chosen instead.
The project has not been without its detractors. In previous stories, some in the health care community, citing financial challenges faced by existing hospitals, questioned the wisdom of adding to the already-strained health care system.
But supporters of the project have said a new modern facility at Koa Ridge would take in residents from a greater geographic area than Wahiawa, attract more physicians and provide a greater array of services in a more efficient manner.
Capital costs for the project are estimated to be $44.8 million, according to the application. Earlier estimates for the entire project, including a land purchase and development costs, were in the region of $300 million.
The association obtained authorization for $147 million in special purpose revenue bonds for the project in the 1999 legislative session. The authorization allows for borrowing at lower interest rates. Last session, the Legislature extended the sunset date for the bond authorization until June 30, 2008.
Earlier this year, state senators shelved a bill to bypass county zoning requirements, which would have helped to fast track the project. But they called on the mayor and the city to expedite approval by using the Plan Review Use permit process.
The Plan Review Use permit process allows for uses that normally would require re-zoning to go forward without all the complexities of the re-zoning process, said City Council Member Charles Djou, chair of the council's Zoning Committee. But even that abbreviated process would take four to six months, he said. After obtaining an opinion from the City Corporation Counsel, members of the City Council said they could not fast track the project unless Wahiawa had an approved certificate of need in place or an exemption from the CON process, Djou said.
Sen. Marcus Oshiro, D-Wahiawa-Whitmore, earlier introduced a bill that would have exempted the planned health care facility from the certificate of need process. That bill was unsuccessful. At that time, Oshiro, a Wahiawa Hospital Association Board member and a major supporter of the project, said the group had spent more than $6 million since January 1999 to get a new facility built.
Last week the City Council voted to grant the association another 120-days to either obtain a certificate of need or an exemption so it can continue the Plan Review Use permit process.
