WATERVILLE — MaineGeneral Health unveiled to the public Saturday its latest concept in medical care, the Thayer Center for Health.
The recently completed $16 million renovation converted the former Thayer Hospital, a more-than-250,000-square-foot inpatient hospital, into the state’s largest outpatient facility, centralizing inpatient care in Augusta.
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MaineGeneral Health opened it to the public Saturday for an open house, touting amenities such as the new low-radiation CAT scan machine installed in April, inpatient surgical and physical therapy suites and convenient access to more than 70 medical specialists, general practitioners and other medical staff members under one roof.
“It’s kind of a one-stop shop for patients with the exception of the inpatient or overnight stay,” said MaineGeneral Health CEO Chuck Hays.
According to Hays, the health center combines the facilities of more than 10 MaineGeneral facilities throughout the area, pulling doctors from Seton Hospital in Waterville, a residency practice in Fairfield, a rented facility on Kennedy Memorial Drive and a practice in the FirstPark business park in Oakland.
Hays predicted the changes would have little economic effect on those communities, as most of the practices were within three miles of the center and there were no job reductions at Thayer.
MaineGeneral continues to operate a family medical practice in Fairfield, he said, and the site in Oakland will be re-purposed for use by another MaineGeneral Health specialist facility.
Meanwhile, Hays said combining the practices will make it easier for MaineGeneral Health to recurit medical specialists.
When the system operated several smaller facilities, each with one or two doctors, he said, specialists tended to go to larger facilities where they could work fewer nights and weekends because the provider had more physicians in the rotation.
“By combining all the inpatient into one, all the specialty groups became much bigger, and effectively, we were able to recruit more physicians,” Hays said.
The new center also will result in a cost savings for the health system, according to Hays, by making health care operations more efficient.
While the initial investment for Thayer and the Alfond Center for Health inpatient provider in Augusta means the health system won’t see any practical savings immediately, Hays said it realized $7 million in efficiences during fiscal 2014.
Evan Belanger — 861-9239
ebelanger@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @ebelanger
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