Newport Hospital Corp. working on EA for West Maui Hospital
KAANAPALI – Newport Hospital Corp. is currently completing the Maui County-required Environmental Assessment (EA) for the proposed West Maui Hospital and Medical Center site in Kaanapali.
Hospital developer Brian Hoyle, president of Newport Hospital Corp. (NHC), said he hopes to submit the EA to the Maui County Planning Department in the first quarter of 2014.
He has already secured a Certificate of Need for the project from the State Health Planning and Development Agency.
NHC recently announced that a viable financing plan is underway for the development of the entire West Maui Hospital and Medical Center (WMHMC) project.
The campus will consist of a 25-bed acute-care hospital, 40-bed assisted living facility, 40-bed skilled nursing facility, state-of-the-art medical office building and future drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility.
The estimated development cost of the 25-bed hospital, skilled nursing facility and 40-unit West Maui Care Center Assisted Living Facility is about $60 million.
This plan includes a sale/leaseback arrangement wherein the newly formed nonprofit West Maui Hospital Foundation Inc. will serve as the operator of the hospital, and Critical Access HealthCare LLC will manage the WMHMC.
According to NHC, this plan, together with the recent formation of the West Maui Hospital Foundation, will fulfill the promise to the community to provide a “Center of Excellence” in acute healthcare with a 24-hour Emergency Room in West Maui.
The campus is designed to be an integrated healthcare services provider to meet the basic health and safety needs of the 65,000-plus people of West Maui.
Targeting late 2016 to open, the WMHMC is slated on 14.99 acres of land purchased from Kaanapali Land Management Corp. on Kakaalaneo Road just below the Kaanapali Coffee Farms Development.
Hoyle has said WMHMC should be viewed as a community hospital that will have a working relationship with Maui Memorial Medical Center and Maui Medical Group.
The West Maui Hospital Foundation was incorporated in April 2013. Its Board of Directors includes JoAnne Johnson-Winer, former two-term Maui County Councilwoman for West Maui and current Maui County transportation director; Howard Hanazawa, civil engineer, former senior vice president of Kaanapali Land Management; Dr. Alfred Arensdorf, former Maui Health District officer; and Hoyle.
According to the foundation, “These individuals have shown a steadfast commitment to the community and will continue to work through the West Maui Hospital Foundation in raising $5 million in donations solely dedicated to funding of the West Maui Hospital’s startup and ongoing working capital needs.”
Go to www.westmauihospitalandmedicalcenter.org for information on the project and updates.