FROM STAFF REPORTS

MaineGeneral Health's plan to consolidate many of its resources in Augusta will have little or no effect on their own operations, officials of the area's rural hospitals said.

Spokesmen from Inland Hospital in Waterville, Redington-Fairview General Hospital in Skowhegan, Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington and Sebasticook Hospital in Pittsfield on Monday said the changes at MaineGeneral won't affect their patient bases significantly.

MaineGeneral Health revealed Thursday its plans to build a consolidated hospital in Augusta that would lead to the closure of its inpatient Thayer and Seton units in Waterville, as well as its downtown Augusta location. Outpatient care in Waterville would continue at Thayer after the new hospital opens, according to the plans.

"I think the most honest answer is, 'It's too soon to tell,' recognizing that you're talking about an event happening five or six years from now, which, in our business, is about three lifetimes," Inland Hospital CEO John Dalton said.

Dalton said Inland has been in the midst of an aggressive planning process.

"We're dealing with the fact that we continue to grow very rapidly because we've been so successful recruiting physicians to the hospital," he said.

Since the announcement of MaineGeneral's plans, Inland has been receiving an "incredible positive outpouring of support," Dalton said.

At Redington-Fairview General Hospital in Skowhegan, CEO Richard Willett said MaineGeneral's plans shouldn't have much of an impact on his 25-bed inpatient unit.

"Not doing inpatient care in Waterville may have some marginal impact on our volumes -- they may go up some, just because of geography," Willett said Monday. "I don't anticipate significant changes for us. But I certainly understand why (MaineGeneral is) doing what they are doing -- they're running two inpatient physical plants, plus Seton, and there's a fair amount of duplication running two inpatient plants."

He said moves in Waterville won't change the number of hospital beds in Skowhegan.

Willett said large community hospitals such as MaineGeneral have had recent difficulty in recruiting and retaining "sub-specialist" physicians, such as cardiologists.

"How it will impact us, if they are now able to recruit more sub-specialists, will be good for us -- we won't have to send patients to Portland and to Bangor for sub-specialty care," he said.

Willett said Redington-Fairview is building a new medical-office building where the hospital will consolidate all hospital-owned practices.

MaineGeneral's plan shouldn't have "any effect whatsoever" on Sebasticook Valley Hospital in Pittsfield, said that hospital's chief executive officer, Jack May.

The main reason, he said, is that Sebasticook Valley has aggressively expanded its outpatient services in recent years with the opening of specialized facilities throughout central Maine. The flagship hospital in Pittsfield has 25 beds.

May said 78 percent of the hospital's revenue comes from outpatient services.

"People tend to think about where their doctors work and the relationship those doctors have with the hospital," said Gerald Cayer, executive vice president at Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington. "That goes a long way in influencing where someone is going to go for inpatient care," he said.

"It is about the service a patient needs. If a patient needs a specialty, diagnostic or surgical service offered in a certain area, that will drive the person to a Waterville hospital, a Portland hospital or a Boston hospital."