Fate of new hospital is on the line

The federal government can be a study in caprice. Ask North Valley Hospital.

Granted status two years ago as a critical access hospital, the facility receives $1 million more per year from Medicare/Medicaid payments. That was a deciding factor in the hospital's ability to finally move and rebuild its aging facility.

Here comes the caprice.

According to hospital CEO Craig Aasved, the hospital can't continue operating in its old facility and still reap the rewards of the critical-access designation because it doesn't meet earthquake codes.

But moving or rebuilding may jeopardize the designation, too, because of rules that went into effect after the hospital in good faith decided to expand to meet the needs of the community.

The critical-access designation is given to rural hospitals treating patients more than 35 miles away from another hospital - in this case, Kalispell Regional Medical Center.

North Valley isn't really the proscribed distance from KRMC, so it had to get a waiver from the state that qualifies it for critical-access designation. But in January, the state's authority to issue waivers expires. And when North Valley asked Medicare/Medicaid whether its designation will continue in a new facility, it got no answer.

Without written assurance of the valuable designation, HUD won't approve a loan guarantee needed to finance North Valley's new hospital. But a ruling from Medicare could take months to complete, leaving the hospital in limbo - or tied up in bureaucratic red tape, if you prefer.

Delays would increase construction costs by about 6 percent, Aasved said. Interest rates are also on the verge of a run-up.

The current schedule calls for the new building to go to bid on April 15, but the hospital board will meet on Wednesday to reassess their plans. That meeting will follow two public meetings scheduled at 7 p.m. Monday at North Valley Hospital and at 7 p.m. Tuesday in North Valley Hospital's Community Center in Columbia Falls.

The fate of the new hospital is on the line. Without a new building, North Valley Hospital may not survive at all.

Hospital officials have issued a letter for supportive residents to sign and send to Montana's congressional delegation, asking for help in getting the critical-access designation restored.

"I would greatly appreciate any assistance that you could provide to encourage the Centers for Medicare/Medicaid Services to resolve this issue quickly, retain North Valley Hospital's critical access hospital status and allow us to continue with construction," it reads.

For now, hospital leaders wait for news on an important project, caught between a rock and a bureaucratic place. It can't be comfortable there.