By Stephen Tait
Staff Writer
May 21, 2008 04:00 am NEWBURYPORT — Anna Jaques Hospital President Delia O'Connor said it is important for local leaders to "mobilize" to help fight against a proposal that would, if approved, shut down construction of the Newburyport Medical Center. It seems the mobilization effort yesterday on Beacon Hill may have worked. "It went well," Mayor John Moak said. "It went very well." O'Connor and Moak, along with other city leaders, testified at the state Department of Public Health hearing on so-called "physician exception letters," a part of the determination of needs bylaws of the agency. Such letters, which emerged in the early 1990s, allow the construction of free-standing health facilities without going through a formal determination of needs review by the state. Public health officials, contending the letters circumvent the formal process and thus add to the cost of health care, are proposing regulations that would void physician exception letters if a facility is not operational by Aug. 1. Such a move would bring the construction of the 43,000-square-foot medical center to a stop, something O'Connor described as a "crushing blow." The center is expected to bring 30 to 40 jobs and raise about $100,000 in tax revenue for the city. But the city got help yesterday during the hearing in the form of Ann Ormond, president of the Chamber of Commerce; Sheriff Frank Cousins; Dr. Walk Kagan, the president of Commonwealth Hematology-Oncology, the anchor tenant of the center; state Rep. Michael Costello, D-Newburyport; and letters of support from state Sens. Steve Baddour, D-Methuen, and Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester. Baddour represents Newburyport in the Senate, and Tarr's district includes neighboring towns. "We felt very proud of the showing we made," O'Connor said. "I think we got feedback that they were definitely listening to our problems in Newburyport." O'Connor requested the state either push back the date from Aug. 1 of this year to Aug. 1 of next year, or grant Anna Jaques an exception since construction is already underway. She said a formal decision is not expected until July but that the department took their request "very, very seriously." Moak also said he was confident. "It seemed to be that they understood," he said. "They pretty much committed to the fact this legislation would not harm anybody who has begun construction." Tom Jones, a city councilor who started the project but recently sold it to a medical facility development company, said construction is going well. Jones, who is still involved in the construction, said they plan to start putting up the steel very soon. The development is under the direction of Murphy and McManus of Needham, which has developed institutions such as Caritas Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton and the Beth Israel Deaconess medical centers in Chelsea and Brockton. Newburyport's center will provide cancer patients the convenience of a one-stop facility for cancer treatment, which will be the first of its kind North of Boston, officials say. Construction started this spring under the physician exception letter of Alliance Imaging, the company providing the cancer-treatment equipment to the center. That company also sent representatives to testify in favor of the center yesterday.
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