FARMINGTON – Franklin Memorial Hospital officials learned Friday their Certificate of Need application to run a subacute care wing was state approved.

Swing beds, sometimes called transitional care beds, provide a level of service for certain patients who no longer need full hospital care but who are not well enough to go home.

“We are pleased with this word from the state,” Chief Operating Officer Jill Berry-Bowen stated in a press release. “This gives us the opportunity to provide for a much-needed service to the community.”

The hospital applied to the state to reclassify five of its acute-care, also known as medical surgical beds, to so-called swing beds.

That way the beds could be used when needed to provide short-term skilled rehabilitation to patients with complex medical conditions.

“Currently, the only choices available to the hospital are to keep the patient in the hospital setting with no reimbursement for service, or send them to a facility out of the area that can meet their special need,” Berry-Bowen said. “Often times, such a facility can be as far away as Portland or beyond.”

Initially the hospital applied for licenses for 10 beds to be reclassified but nursing home administrators in the area objected fearing the possibility of an adverse impact on local nursing homes.

A compromise was reached with the hospital agreeing to apply for half the licenses.

Renovations to the hospital for the unit are estimated to cost about $50,000.

Hospital officials began the Certificate of Need process nearly a year ago.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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