Two small hospitals in Fort Kent and Machias burn their biomedical waste on site, but they are expected to shut down those operations next year. In a period of tight budgets and uncertainty over Medicare and Medicaid payments, hospital administrators are worried about the future of medical waste disposal costs, according to James Harnar, a spokesman for the Maine Hospital Association.
Hospitals are under tremendous pressure to keep costs under control.
Harnar said since Stericycle controls the medical waste disposal market in Maine, there are no options available for hospitals. And with no competition, the company could boost disposal fees at any time. Biomedical waste disposal was first regulated in 1990. During the 1990s, a number of hospitals in Maine burned their waste and several vendors treated and disposed of the remaining waste. Stericycle, which was founded in 1989, is the country's largest provider of medical waste management services.