St. Francis to unveil center in long-term care ‘village’

St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawaii will celebrate its grand opening April 24 for a new skilled-nursing facility at its former hospital in Liliha after more than three years of renovations.

The 119-bed facility — known as the Clarence T.C. Ching Villas, operated by Ohana Pacific Management — will be the cornerstone of an envisioned long-term care campus, estimated to cost roughly $88 million over the next five years.

"It’s very unique in the Oahu market. Over half the rooms are private," said Jerry Correa, St. Francis’ president and chief executive officer. "A lot of skilled-nursing facilities you go to you’ll see two, three, even four people in the room. What’s unique about this campus is because it used to be an acute-care facility, there’s over 40 physician offices and services within walking distance. This is a little village."

St. Francis invested about $12 million in the first phase of its long-term care campus to redevelop the former Hawaii Medical Center into a three-level skilled-nursing center, which will offer private and semiprivate rooms. The "transitional care" facility — offering short-term 30- to 60-day rehabilitation for patients discharged from hospitals but not ready to go home — will begin taking patients once it receives the required licensing from the state Department of Health.

"Because there’s a shortage of skilled-nursing facilities, a lot of patients are in an acute-care facility and they shouldn’t be," Correa said. "It’s not the right place, not just from a reimbursement standpoint, but it’s just not the right place to rehab. The cost is higher to the hospitals."

St. Francis officials would not say how much it will cost patients to use their facility. The average daily room rate for a private skilled-nursing room on Oahu is $398, according to the State Health Planning and Development Agency.

The organization plans to gradually add more services to what it is calling the St. Francis Kupuna Village, including a senior community center, assisted living, adult day care and independent-living townhomes — all services that are needed in the growing senior community.

St. Francis said it plans to build a community center next to a new courtyard to create a town center where healthy seniors can have a social environment and then eventually transition to other services on campus. Services will focus on dementia, a growing disease among seniors, and also address respite for caregivers.

"Caregivers are getting burnt out. This is a place where they can get access to support regarding finances, support groups, services that are out there to help their loved ones," Correa said. "A lot of that is out there, but it’s fragmented, so we want to bring it together so when caregivers come here it’s a one-stop shop so they can get access to information."

St Francis’ mission is building healthy communities, Correa said. "We want to do what we can not just to help the patient, but to help the caregiver and family members get through this process."

The health care provider, which opened the Liliha hospital in 1927, also hopes to include complementary services on campus, including a spa, bistro cafe and concierge services for seniors, as well as access to a number of geriatric specialists.

The company has already recruited a number of specialty providers. Hawaii Pacific Neuroscience, a multispecialty practice focusing on dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, headaches and strokes, opened an office on the 8-acre Liliha campus, which also has dialysis services, a cancer center, pharmacy, laboratory, radiology and endoscopy.

The organization exited the acute-care business in January 2007, selling the financially troubled St. Francis Medical Centers in Ewa and Liliha for $68 million to HMC LLC, then a for-profit joint venture between Hawaii Physician Group LLC and Kansas-based Cardiovascular Hospitals of America.

St. Francis, which provided the bulk of the financing for the sale and was HMC’s largest creditor, regained control of the hospitals after a lengthy bankruptcy that led to the closure of both the Ewa facility in 2011 and Liliha hospital in 2012. The Queen’s Health Systems acquired the Ewa hospital from St. Francis in December 2012 and reopened the facility May 20.

The skilled-nursing services at the Liliha campus are meant to help alleviate a shortage of long-term care beds in the community.