DeVos Hospital Hearing Thursday

GRAND RAPIDS — The Alliance for Health is hosting a public hearing on Spectrum Health’s certificate of need request for the new Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital on Thursday.

The hearing is scheduled for , Thursday, at Brown Hutcherson Ministries,

618 Jefferson Ave. SE

. Those planning to comment are asked to bring a written version for the record.

Spectrum Health’s pediatric services, now spread throughout the Butterworth Campus, would be concentrated in the 14-story building next to the main hospital, according to a statement from Alliance for Health, a local health planning agency. Cost is estimated at $274 million, with 57 percent expected to be covered by a tax-exempt bond issue at 5.5 percent, payable over 30 years. Spectrum Health reports that it has met 90 percent of its $100 million goal toward covering the remainder.

According to the Alliance for Health, the project is expected to reduce Spectrum Health’s margin of revenue to 7.93 percent, down from 8.29 percent in 2006.