FARMINGTON – Franklin Memorial Hospital’s plan to seek licenses for 10 short-term skilled nursing care beds is hitting opposition from nursing homes.

Nursing home administrators say their facilities already offer this care and if the hospital gets licensed for 10 swing beds, it would directly and negatively affect nursing homes in the region.

If the hospital receives state approval for the licenses, it would mean a loss of money for the nursing homes and a loss of jobs, administrators said.

The hospital has applied to the state for a Certificate of Need to reclassify 10 of its existing medical surgical beds to be used as sub-acute care or so-called swing beds when needed to provide short-term skilled rehabilitation to patients with complex medical conditions.

Jill Berry Bowen, chief operating officer of Franklin Memorial Hospital, told a group of mostly nursing home representatives Tuesday, that it is important for nursing homes and the hospital to continue to work together.

A session with nursing home leaders was scheduled later Tuesday.

Berry Bowen said there are times when a local skilled nursing facility is unable to take a patient that has a complex medical condition or is on high-cost medication.

“What we’re doing really is trying to get approval for swing beds in order to offer sub-acute care,” Berry Bowen said.

Right now, if the hospital offers this type of care, it is not reimbursed because it is not licensed to offer that level of care.

“We are an acute care facility,” she said. “We always will be … We do not want to get into long-term practice. We want to take care of gap patients … For long-term, we need to be partners in this.”

The hospital has 44 acute care beds and it is important to fill those beds with acute care patients, Berry Bowen said.

She said there is a gap in care and that’s what the hospital is trying to fill.

However, Geri Bryant, administrator for Sandy River Center for Healthcare and Rehabilitation in Farmington, said that between her home and two other nursing and rehabilitation centers in Farmington, they average 11 open beds daily.

“It’s a duplication of services,” Bryant said.

The three area nursing homes would lose about $1 million in revenue if Franklin Memorial Hospital gains these beds, she said.

“This will be an enormous negative impact on our business,” she said.

Bryant said nursing homes also lose money on certain patients under MaineCare because it is only paid so much per day to take care of a patient.

Nursing homes take people in for short-term rehabilitation, she said.

Last year, Sandy River had 300 admissions and 90 percent or more were for short-term care, Bryant said.

On occasion and very rarely, Bryant said, there may be a complex case that cannot be placed.

The hospital’s application said they have a need for 1.8 beds, Bryant said, yet they’re requesting to be licensed for 10.

Berry Bowen said sellers of the beds like to sell the bed licenses in groups.

Nursing homes, which pay property taxes to the town, are concerned about the financial impact if the hospital get these beds, Bryant said. She also noted that the nursing homes would need fewer staff members and that this move could put one of the nursing homes out of business.

Bryant said she was encouraged that the hospital is willing to sit down and discuss its plan with nursing home leaders.

A public hearing on the hospital’s proposal is scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday at the North Dining Hall at the University of Maine at Farmington.

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