Washington state should let Evergreen Hospital grow by 80 beds

COMMUNITIES around Kirkland have grown to the point where an 80-bed expansion of Evergreen Hospital Medical Center is justified.

The state Department of Health should give the hospital the nod to grow to 307 beds, an increase that will help ensure health-care access for the Eastside's booming population. Evergreen serves a hospital district that spans the Northshore and Lake Washington school districts.

Cost is always a factor and Evergreen smartly planned ahead. Additional beds for the public hospital will require no new taxes. Instead, more than half of the proposed beds would come from reopening patient rooms vacated when Evergreen opened its new inpatient tower last year. The remaining beds would be added and paid for over time using revenues from medical services.

Citizens have been the strongest supporters of the hospital. In 2004, voters approved by 66 percent a bond that built a new emergency department.

New hospitals and existing ones looking to grow must be issued a certificate of need, an odd duck in the state's regulatory arsenal. The rule is meant to control costs for consumers and avoid duplicate services, but the process can be convoluted.

A recent battle involved Swedish Medical Center and Overlake Hospital Medical Center competing to expand into Issaquah. The matter went to court. Nearly four years later, Swedish is moving forward with a 175-bed facility.

Evergreen's request is simpler and involves no competing hospitals or courtroom drama. It ought to be swiftly approved.