Dialysis center to close Sept. 24

POLSON - Administrators from St. Patrick Hospital have decided to close the Polson kidney dialysis center on Sept. 24.

That means that 10 local patients who depend on the center for their life-saving treatment three times per week will have to go elsewhere. Some may move to Missoula, commute to Missoula 13 times a month for treatments, or choose to go to Kalispell for treatments.

Dialysis is a critical treatment that cleanses the bloodstream of waste products, when a patient's own kidneys are no longer able to.

St. Patrick Hospital Chief Executive Officer Steve Witz said Monday that "we assume most of the patients will be transported to Missoula, and there may be some who make a personal decision to move."

He added that there is an alternative treatment called "peritoneal dialysis" that can be done at home. At least one of the local dialysis patients is considering that as an option, the CEO said.

"I think for many people this will be a real hardship," Witz commented, adding that on Aug. 9 he met with Polson's dialysis patients both in the morning and in the afternoon, so he could hear firsthand the closure's impacts on the patients. "So I could take those impacts into consideration," he said.

The Polson center has seen an average of about 10 patients, which Witz points out is not enough to sustain the program. "We need 25," he explained. "If we had 25 patients, we could go to six days a week there."

Ultimately, it's a question of finding sufficient resources to continue the program, according to the CEO.

"We are not trying to make money," Witz emphasized. "We're trying to make sure we have enough resources to continue to provide care. This is a difficult decision. It requires a balance of being able to support the program and meet the needs of patients in the program."

The hospital cannot increase the amount charged for dialysis treatments because, he says, "these payments come almost exclusively from Medicare, which is a government-regulated rate of pay. And it's not enough for small units like the Polson one."

That's why, Witz says, consolidation of three of the St. Patrick dialysis centers - Polson, Hamilton and Missoula - makes sense financially.

"By consolidating these units, we will eliminate about half the deficit," the CEO explained. "For the three units, the expenses exceed what we're paid by $1.3 million per year. And if we consolidate, we estimate that amount would be cut in half."

St. Patrick opened the Polson center in Dec. 1999.

The two Polson center staff members have been offered positions in Missoula, Witz confirmed.

St. Luke Hospital Chief Executive Officer Shane Roberts said in a telephone interview Monday afternoon that patients are calling and "asking us to please do something."

He called the situation "very heart wrenching," especially since dialysis patients are "one of the most fragile populations we have."

Although the Polson closure "just pulls at the heart strings," he said, he is not sure whether or not it would be economically feasible for the Ronan hospital to open a dialysis unit.

"We do have space that's not being occupied," he said. "We are talking about it, and I know a lot of the things the St. Patrick's people have said are true, about the costs and problems associated with trying to operate a rural dialysis center.

"Right now, we are in the process of developing a master site plan for St. Luke," Roberts continued. "Dialysis is one of the areas we are talking about. But we just don't know at this point. We need to investigate to see if we could get the medical support we need, such as a dialysis specialist. It might be real tough to get one."

In 1999, St. Luke was in the process of putting in a dialysis unit, Roberts said. "We put in the plumbing and so on. Then right in the middle of it, we were informed that the Polson unit was going in. There is not enough demand for two units here in the valley. The Polson unit was a competitive response from St. Pat."

Although St. Luke already has the plumbing and the floor and the concrete poured for a potential dialysis center, the facility would probably face the same issues St. Patrick is facing.

"The volume of business did not grow as they (St. Patrick administrators) anticipated," Roberts said.