Redington-Fairview Hospital Budget

For Immediate Release
January 29, 2009

Contact: Rep. Jeff McCabe, 399-3185
Rita Furlow, Legislative Aide, 287-1430
Kyle Leighton, Communications Director, 287-1433

Funding preserved for Redington-Fairview Hospital in state budget
Rep. McCabe works with legislature to adopt compromise budget proposal

Augusta —The Maine Legislature passed a supplemental budget on Tuesday, addressing the current budget shortfall caused by the national economic crisis. State Rep. Jeff McCabe, D-Skowhegan, announced Thursday that while the budget included a number of cuts to state services, the Legislature was able to reach an agreement that continues support for Redington-Fairview Hospital (RFGH), and other similar critical access hospitals that many Mainers in rural areas depend on.

The supplemental budget, which passed 120-22 in the Maine House of Representatives, restored cuts to these hospitals that were proposed by Gov. Baldacci.

“In addition to the emergency and life-saving role that RFGH provides to our area, the hospital is a true cornerstone of our community by providing preventative health care services and quality jobs,” said McCabe. “I am pleased that the legislature was able to respond to the concerns of the hospitals about these proposed cuts in the supplemental budget.”

The Governor had proposed cutting reimbursements to critical access hospitals in order to fill the current budget gap. However, many patients and employees of critical access hospitals told legislators they feared their hospital would go under if the state cuts had survived. McCabe said that dozens of constituents contacted him over the past month expressing support for Redington-Fairview Hospital and their concern over how losing those services could impact the Skowhegan area. McCabe said that in preventing these cuts, the Legislature reaffirmed their commitment to ensuring that all individuals in the state of Maine should have access to quality health care, no matter where they live.

Included in the supplemental budget package was a commitment by the Legislature to use a portion of any federal stimulus package funds to pay down charges owed to Maine hospitals by the state for MaineCare services. The biennial budget, which will be negotiated by the Legislature over the next few months, includes a placeholder for $99 million in federal stimulus funds for MaineCare services. It is expected that Maine will actually get more federal support than that, and the commitment to pay hospitals for services rendered will come from the money the Legislature receives over and above the placeholder.

“Hospitals such as RFGH are crucial to the fabric of towns in rural Maine,” said Rep. McCabe. “The pride expressed in the many letters, e-mails and phone calls that I have received over the last few weeks are shared by my wife and me. We have benefited from the wonderful staff at RFGH who were so supportive to our family during the birth of our two children.”
Redington-Fairview Hospital in Skowhegan provides health care services to more than 30,000 people in over ten towns in the region, which extends from Skowhegan to the Canadian border. In addition to the hospital’s ambulatory care services, Redington-Fairview has recently expanded their Radiology Department, Laboratory and Oncology services, and their Birthing Center.

The Legislature will begin work on the biennial budget in February, which sets state spending priorities for the next two years.


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