BRUNSWICK

The state could have rejected Central Maine Heathcare Inc.’s application to assume management of Parkview Adventist Medical Center.

In January, it asked CMHC for more financial information on the proposed deal — but CMHC rejected the request.

Instead, CMHC suspended its Certificate of Need application — a decision disclosed Thursday in a news release obtained by The Times Record — and appears to be preparing a deeper financial analysis.

Because the state did not have enough financial data to render a decision, according to Ken Albert, director of the Division of Licensing & Regulatory Services, CMHC made the decision to pull its application on its own, Albert told The Times Record on Friday.

“They knew what we were going to be looking for,” Albert said. “We just never got the information.”

The CMHC decision to pull its application may keep the process — an uncertainty — alive for another year.

Albert, whose department oversees the Certificate of Need program, said CMHC was told Jan. 17 the state would not recommend approval of the application.

Albert said the state was prepared to render a decision 10 days after that meeting, he told the Bangor Daily News on Friday.

Under the Certificate of Need program, the state reviews proposals for major hospital projects to determine if the added services are needed or whether they aren’t already offered at nearby facilities. Each project is recommended for approval or denial, with the final ruling made by the commissioner of the state Department of Health and Human Services.

Among the criteria is whether the proposed project is “economically feasible.”

“(CMHC’s) application really failed to address economic feasibility,” Albert said. “They’ve extrapolated that to imply that a feasibility study would be helpful. Most often, the application is submitted with a feasibility study.”

CMHC agreed to submit the additional information by Feb. 26. Instead, on Thursday, CMHC notified the state of its request for a suspension, Albert said.

Albert said that CMHC has up to a year to resubmit its application to join hands with Parkview. The Lewiston-based hospital avoids the time and fees it would take to resubmit, he said.

CMHC had sought a “simplified” review process for the proposed merger, he said.

Maine statute allows that in some cases, but DHHS decided that the Parkview proposal required a more expanded review that includes public hearings, he said.

The agency informed CMHC of its decision shortly after the health system submitted a letter of intent in June 2012, Albert said.

CMHC nonetheless submitted its application two months later, on Aug. 28, 2012, without the required information, he said.

Chuck Gill, CMHC vice president of Communications, offered a different version of events, saying CMHC was under the impression when it submitted the application that it qualified for the simplified review.

“We believed the application did qualify for simplified review, and the department feels otherwise,” he said Friday.

In the past, DHHS has granted simplified review to similar applications from other health care facilities, he said.

CMHC’s Certificate of Need application cites MaineHealth’s 2010 acquisition of Pen Bay Healthcare in Rockland, its 2009 acquisition of Southern Maine Medical Center in Saco, and its 2008 merger with Waldo County Healthcare.

“That’s how every other application has been reviewed,” Gill said.

He declined to specify what information the feasibility study would include.

“We’re answering questions regarding further information the department’s requested, and that’s as far as I want to go with it,” Gill said.

In its application, CMHC said no additional capital or operating costs were anticipated as a result of the transaction with the 55-bed hospital. No changes in services, the number of hospital beds or new equipment was planned, the health system said.

After suffering losses of more than $800,000 in both 2009 and 2010, Parkview posted an operating gain of $1.5 million in 2011, according to the application.

“While CMHC and Parkview have every intention to continue profitable operations at Parkview, CMHC does have the ability to sustain any foreseeable operating losses incurred by member entities,” the application states.

The merger would put CMHC in a better position to protect an $8.6 million loan it made to Parkview as the hospital “begins to benefit from the fiscal benefits from this transaction,” the application states.

CMHC remains confident that Parkview will become a part of the health system in the future, Gill said.

On Jan. 17, Albert said, his staff and CMHC staff conducted a required “technical assistance meeting.”

“During the meeting, it was revealed to Central Maine Healthcare that the department could not render a recommendation for approval, based on the submission,” Albert said. “It lacked the information required for review, including economic feasibility, in part.”

The state granted CMHC’s request for an extension on the time it could have to submit supplemental information, up to Feb. 26, Albert said.

“They never got back to us,” he said. “Rather than give us the supplemental information, which is their prerogative, they made the request to suspend.”

BANGOR DAILY NEWS staff writer Jackie Farwell contributed to this report.

lgrard@timesrecord.com