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The nation’s largest owner and operator of rehabilitation hospitals could open a 50-bed inpatient facility in Bangor in January 2027, according to its application recently filed with the state. Child Gait Trainer
Encompass Health Corp. outlined its intent to build the facility, estimated to cost $61.4 million, at 1017 Union St. in a Nov. 6, 2023, letter. An application filed with the Maine Department of Health and Human Services last month reveals new details, including the company’s timeline for opening and hospital amenities.
Encompass partners with MaineHealth to run the New England Rehabilitation Hospital in Portland, but this proposal marks its foray into Bangor.
The proposed hospital could help fill a gap in health services that was left when Bangor’s biggest hospital, Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center, stopped offering similar services in December 2022. It will also bring from 100 to 150 jobs to the city within the first five years of opening, Encompass spokesperson Danielle Hall said Friday.
Maine DHHS will determine whether the project will move forward, requiring health care providers to “demonstrate sufficient need,” the agency’s spokesperson said last month.
“Encompass Health knows there is a strong need for additional rehabilitation services in the Bangor community” based on a market analysis, Hall said. “The hospital will bring high-quality, cost-effective inpatient rehabilitation services to residents in the area who currently have to drive to neighboring counties for their care and treatment, or in some cases go without the level of care they need.”
The proposed hospital would offer 24-hour care to patients recovering from debilitating illnesses and injuries. Those include amputations, brain injuries, cardiac episodes, pulmonary conditions, spinal cord injuries, strokes and complex orthopedic conditions.
Among the amenities proposed for the hospital, which would be called Encompass Rehabilitation Hospital of Bangor, are all private rooms including two reserved for bariatric patients, a dialysis treatment area, a day room for patients and family members, an indoor therapy gym and an outdoor therapy area.
In its application, Encompass argues that it has the operating experience, ongoing financial strength and viability to successfully support a hospital in Bangor. It shows patients’ rate of returning home from its Portland hospital is 73 percent compared with nearly 67 percent nationally.
Maine is among states with the “lowest utilization of IRF [inpatient rehabilitation facilities] services,” which reflects a gap in care, Encompass wrote. The state has too few rehabilitation care beds for its population, particularly those who are 65 years or older.
Closure of the inpatient rehabilitation unit at Northern Light EMMC has “increased the gap in care for residents who need and would benefit” from such services locally, it wrote in the application.
The program closed because it was unable to adequately staff the unit and did not want to risk the quality of care, spokesperson Suzanne Spruce said last month.
If approved by the state, Encompass would fund the project from its “ample existing cash, cash flow from operations and funds available under its credit facility,” it wrote.
Encompass has 161 inpatient rehabilitation hospitals in 37 states and Puerto Rico, the application said. A hospital in Bangor appears to be part of the company’s larger plans to expand its footprint across the country, with recent hospital openings in Fitchburg, Wisconsin, and Prosper, Texas.
The company has affiliations with Maine schools, including Kennebec Valley Community College and the University of Maine System, because it allows students to participate in clinical and technical rotations at its facilities.
Encompass anticipates that it would seek one or more disease-specific certifications from The Joint Commission, an accreditor of U.S. health care facilities, based on needs of the community. Encompass has 132 hospitals holding one or more certifications in areas including stroke, brain injury and hip fracture rehabilitation, according to the application.
The company remains focused on its application, and it has received support from local residents, health care providers, business owners, physicians and public officials, Hall said.
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