Petersburg Medical Center loses bids for facility, equipment grants

Petersburg Medical Center received no funding for its two largest Rural Health Transformation Program proposals Wednesday. The state deferred PMC's new facility design proposal and its critical medical equipment purchase proposal without providing feedback.

The hospital will resubmit versions of both in the fall 2027 funding cycle, likely broken into smaller projects, according to a hospital representative who spoke at Wednesday's borough assembly meeting.

Five smaller PMC proposals advanced to a second round of competition. A maternal and early childhood health planning project is expected to receive funding this summer to support lactation consulting and assess opportunities for pregnant and early parenting families. Four implementation projects require full second applications: telehealth, behavioral health, a shared medical office with Cordova and Homer, and home-based services expansion.

The state intends to fund up to 50 percent of the projects that advanced to this round, the representative said.

PMC's 2020 Replacement Hospital Master Plan estimated the hospital's independent debt capacity at roughly $50 million. That falls short of what the hospital needs to fund major facility replacement without external state and federal funding. The hospital has requested approximately $37 million in the state capital budget to construct the shell and core of a new medical center.

The state has not yet released data on which projects received funding or how much was awarded in the first round. The hospital representative said the state promised to be transparent about who applied, who was funded, and in what amounts, but has not provided a timeline.