State grants Beaumont’s request to extend review timeline for application

It appears folks will have to wait another three months to find out whether the state will approve or deny Beaumont Health’s application to build a 117-bed hospital in Oxford Township.

A decision on the matter was originally due by July 1.

But, Lynn Sutfin, public information officer for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), informed this reporter in a June 27 email that “Beaumont requested and we approved an extension to their application review timeline, and so their new application decision deadline is 9/30/19.”

“The 9/30 date is 90 days from their decision due date and 90 days is the maximum allowable extension,” Sutfin wrote.

A new hospital is one of those facilities for which a certificate of need (CON) must be obtained from the MDHHS.

Enacted in 1972, the CON program is a state regulatory program that’s intended to ensure only needed services are developed in Michigan.

Beaumont submitted its CON application on Feb. 1. The health system is looking to build a 225,000-square-foot hospital on a 25-acre parcel of vacant land located on the east side of M-24, just south of E. Market St. and just north of the village limits. The project’s estimated cost is $140 million.

According to Mark Geary, director of external communications and media relations for Beaumont, the health system “requested a 90-day extension because we need additional time to document that we meet all of the certificate of need requirements for the project.”

Sutfin indicated Beaumont had sent an email to CON staff requesting the extension. She informed this reporter that a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request must be filed to obtain a copy of that email. The Leader’s FOIA request was submitted on June 28.

Beaumont applied for all 117 acute care hospital beds identified by the state last September as the projected need for 2021 in what is labeled as Limited Access Area (LAA) 6 on a map posted on the MDHHS website.

LAA 6 encompasses three zip codes – Oxford 48371, Ortonville 48462 and Clarkston 48348.

An LAA is an underserved area where patient day demand meets or exceeds the statewide average of patient days used per 50,000 residents in the base year. An underserved area is a geographic area that’s not within a 30-minute drive of an existing licensed acute care hospital with 24-7 emergency room services.