Hospital beds were a hot topic during a state Department of Health public hearing Aug. 5 in the Kent library.

Bart Eggen, executive director from the Department of Health and Mark Thomas, an analyst with the department, set up the hearing, which opened at noon and lasted nearly five hours.

The testimony addressed the certificate of need applications for hospital beds from MultiCare, Auburn Regional Medical Center and Valley Medical Center.

MultiCare is asking approval to build a 58-bed hospital in Covington on the health care facility’s Urgent Care site.

Auburn Regional is requesting 70 beds at its existing hospital and Valley is requesting 60 beds at the Renton hospital.

Both MultiCare and Valley are also proposing to build free standing emergency departments in Covington, which does not require a certificate of need application to the health department. The MultiCare emergency department is planned for the Urgent Care site and Valley is proposing to build an emergency department in the town center area behind Safeway.

Valley is not planning to build a hospital in Covington.

If the number of speakers count, MultiCare was the overwhelming winner at the public hearing with about 80 speaking in favor of allowing MultiCare to build the hospital in Covington. About 20 spoke in favor of adding 70 beds to Auburn Regional and nearly 10 testified in favor of allowing Valley the 60 beds.

Most speakers were employees or associated with the health care facilities, but not all. There were residents, city officials and former patients speaking.

At the public hearing, members of each organization outlined their reasons for requesting the beds.

Hugh Kodama, administrator of the Covington MultiCare clinic, pointed out in his written statement the health care provider has been serving Covington and southeast King County since 1993 and MultiCare was the first provider to serve Covington.

Kodama stated when MultiCare first built the clinic in Covington “there was nothing around it, but we knew this day would come.”

He underlined the facilities involvement in the community stating, “When we talk about the community we are involved in we are talking about friends and neighbors.”

Many of the speakers supporting MultiCare pointed out the need for a hospital serving the residents in and around Covington and the need for quicker access versus driving to Valley or Auburn.

Covington Mayor Margaret Harto, Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Wagner, council members Wayne Snoey, David Lucavish and Jim Scott all spoke in support of allowing a hospital to serve the community.

“I strongly support the MultiCare health system,” Snoey said. “Our residents lack regular access to health care.”

Harto stated there is unanimous support on the City Council for a hospital in Covington.

“Our Covington residents lack access to integrated services and the demand will continue to grow.”

Steve Patonai, CEO for Auburn Regional, pointed out the hospital is reaching its capacity.

“More and more patients are using Auburn Regional and the high patient occupancy is causing problems,” Patonai said. “It is not sustainable.”

Patonai said the hospital has not added “beds for three decades. The time is now.”

Rich Roodman, CEO of Valley Medical Center, pointed out the 60 bed proposal for the public hospital was the most “cost effective” option of the three.

Roodman said the beds would support “life saving programs such as emergency PCI (percutaneous coronary intervention), which rescues heart attack patients, to programs like our NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) that save high risk infants and their mothers.”

Roodman added, “We believe this is the only instance where an out-of-town competitor is intending to create a hospital within a public hospital district in the state of Washington.”

Sue Bowman, president of Valley’s Board of Commissioners, echoed Roodman’s statement concerning the low cost of allowing the public hospital to add the 60 beds. She asked the department to, “recognize and reward Valley Medical Center for being prudent stewards of district resources….”

A second commissioner from Valley also spoke, Dr. Aaron Heide, but he delivered a much different message.

Heide said he was “offering my opinion independent of my affiliations.”

Along with serving on the Valley board, Heide is a vascular neurologist and stroke director at Auburn Regional Medical Center.

Heide said he recently treated his father for a stroke and noted how important it is for quick access to treatment.

“The priceless moment is when a patient gets better and gets better faster,” Heide said. “I want to talk from the heart. Patients don’t care about politics and cost. They care about getting healthy and getting better.”

Heide emphasized the importance of patients getting treatment close to their homes.

Heide also disputed a statement made by Dr. David Vossler, medical director at the Washington Neuroscience Institute at Valley Medical Center. Vossler stated Valley was the best place for treatment from neurologists for strokes and other neurological disorders.

“I take issue with Vossler saying Valley is the only place where a stroke can be treated,” Heide said.

Eggen said during a phone interview Tuesday the process of reviewing the applications is “very focused on the community. We look at serving the needs of the community.”

The executive director said the during the review of the applications the department will look at “the need for acute care at least seven years into the future, at a bare minimum.”

The three providers are located in one health planning area designated by the department, the Southeast King County Planning Area.

According to Eggen, the department has no “preconceived ideas” about how many beds should be licensed. He stated there could be any combination of beds allowed by the department, “depending on the need.”

Eggen said this is the first time his department has received applications from three competing entities seeking beds at the same time.

The next step following the public hearing is a rebuttal period, which ends Aug. 23. Once the rebuttal period closes, Thomas will begin an analysis of the testimony, written statements and applications. Thomas will review the applications to make sure the department’s certificate of need criteria is met.

“It’s not just about the numbers,” Eggen said. “It is also access. We take everything into consideration. Are there unusual barriers to health care?”

Eggen said some of the criteria looked at includes admission policies of each health provider and charity care policies.

Also the department will review if the providers, “can afford to do what they are proposing to do. We want to make sure the organizations have thoughtful plans and the means to follow through.”

Eggen said the final decision is “about trying to control cost and provide high quality care.”

According to Thomas the decision will be released Oct. 7.