STAFF: SECOND LAB UNJUSTIFIED

The state's Certificate of Need staff recommends St. Francis Medical Center replace its cardiac catherization lab rather than add a second lab.

The cardiac catherization lab is on the agenda for a Sept. 14 meeting of the Missouri Health Facilities Review Committee. The nine-member panel will make a final decision.

The medical center is seeking approval from the Missouri Department of Health to install a second lab at a cost of $1.76 million. Such capital projects require approval from the Missouri Health Facilities Review Committee, which is part of the health department's Certificate of Need program.

After reviewing five pages of analysis and a four-page summary of a public hearing on the request, the Certificate of Need staff concluded that expansion of medical center is unjustified. Tom Piper, director of Certificate of Need program, said St. Francis didn't select the most cost-effective alternative.

But Dale Rauh, director of The Heart Institute at St. Francis, said the reviewers' recommendation "doesn't mean that much.

"The binding decision comes from the nine-member panel," Rauh said. "We will proceed with our plans."

The second lab would enable the medical center to update equipment used in the diagnosis of heart ailments. When the first lab was installed in 1986, the building was constructed with room for expansion.

Rauh said just replacing the lab makes no sense. To replace the equipment would mean the lab would shut down for three months. "That basically puts our heart program out of service for three months," he said. "It makes no sense, since we have the space already for the second lab."

Updating the equipment wouldn't address schedule delays for patients who need lab work, he said.

A public hearing concerning the proposed construction was held Aug. 9 in Cape Girardeau. Speakers were divided almost evenly for and against St. Francis' proposal. Several of those who opposed adding a second lab said they favored replacement of the existing lab but saw no need for two labs.

The staff report contends that St. Francis wouldn't have to shut down while the upgrade is being made. Instead, the medical center could place the new unit in the room designed for the second lab.

Mary Dunn with the Southeast Missouri Business Group on Health said the group supports the staff recommendation.

"We were never denying St. Francis the chance to improve," she said. "What we were opposed to was the expansion of a second lab."

She said a poll of voting members of the business group showed two-thirds support a proposed upgrade of the St. Francis lab.

"We are not looking to do battle," Dunn said. "We think the hospitals should start bridging to better use all the resources in the community."

Also on the agenda for the Sept. 14 hearing is a plan by the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau to build apartments.

Piper said officials with the Lutheran Home didn't think the project needed the state's approval. The Missouri Health Facilities Review Committee is expected to decide whether a Certificate of Need is required for the project.