Milford Regional Seeks $5M from Casino for ER Impacts, $2.5M a Year for Staff

Milford Regional Medical Center is seeking $5 million toward its emergency room expansion from the developer of the Foxwoods Massachusetts resort casino, citing the impact of the casino operation on hospital services.

The casino could attract some 19,000 visitors a day, according to Foxwoods estimates. The $55 million hospital project, announced in 2011, will double the size of the existing ER, and increase intensive care unit rooms from 10 to 16. The hospital's market includes Milford and surrounding communities.

The non-profit hospital also is seeking funds from Foxwoods for seven additional full-time employees, including three registered nurses.

Its chief executive officer also is advocating for an on-site casino health clinic for customers and casino employees. That clinic would require an additional eight full time positions, to provide coverage for round-the-clock casino operations.

In all, the new hires proposed by the hospital would cost $2.5 million a year, on top of the $5 million up-front the hospital is requesting toward the emergency room expansion.

The requests were detailed in a letter to Milford Town Administrator Richard Villani and released to media on Monday following the selectmen's meeting.

The casino is expected to result in an increase in call volume to the town's combined emergency fire and police dispatch, according to a police review of the proposal. This is the reason why police would receive mitigation money to cover the cost of four additional dispatchers.

Chief Executive Officer Frank Saba told the town's casino attorneys the casino would probably result in a 5 percent increase in visitors to the ER at the medical center, based on conversations he had with counterparts at hospitals in Connecticut, according to a memo from Shefsky & Froelich.

He said in his letter to selectmen he understood the requests were significant.

"We know that these requests are significant and carry a substantial cost but we do feel that this staffing and these programs would be very important to our hospital in providing the necessary care and services for the increase in patients that we expect with the arrival of a casino," Saba said.

The town's attorneys are negotiating a host community agreement with Foxwoods, which would include an outline of required mitigation spending in the town. An initial draft released last week was discussed by Selectmen on Monday.

The agreement, if finalized by the attorneys this week, will be discussed by selectmen again a week from Wednesday.

The hospital's request was not discussed by the three selectmen, but chairman Bill Buckley said he would expect some mitigation funds should be directed to the hospital in the agreement, given the expected impacts.

"We would expect to see something."