The price tag for the previously announced sale of the financially strapped St. Francis hospitals on O'ahu is nearly $68 million, the buyers said in documents filed with the state Department of Health.

A large part of the purchase price, $40.2 million, will be financed by St. Francis Healthcare Systems of Hawaii, which runs the hospitals.

The buyer, Hawaii Medical Center LLC, said it will put up $10 million in cash for the 304-bed St. Francis Medical Center in Liliha and the 134-bed St. Francis Medical Center-West in 'Ewa. Hawaii Medical is composed of more than 100 local Filipino-American physicians and Wichita, Kan.-based Cardiovascular Hospitals of America LLC.

In filings with the state Health Department, Hawaii Medical said it will pay another $17.7 million over 20 years in the form of monthly land lease payments. The terms of the $67.9 million deal underscore St. Francis' desire to shed its money-losing acute care operations and focus on longterm care and other services for the elderly and terminally ill.

"The sisters want to move forward from acute care to focus on homecare, hospice and the needs of seniors," said Cheryl Tamura, a St. Francis spokeswoman.

Wai'anae resident Denice Keliikoa said she's in favor of the sale of the St. Francis hospitals to Hawaii Medical. Keliikoa noted that St. Francis plays an important role as the only hospital facility serving the Wai'anae Coast and Leeward O'ahu region.

Keliikoa, in a letter to the Health Department, said her father, also of Wai'anae, suffered a heart attack several years ago but is alive today because he was able to get prompt treatment at St. Francis-West.

"Without St. Francis Medical Center-West, our residents would need to travel (farther) for acute care and basic medical services," Keliikoa wrote.

The Department of Health is holding hearings this month on the sale, and the state Attorney General's office is conducting a separate review.

Details of the deal, which is expected to close at the end of the year, were disclosed in Hawaii Medical Center's June 30 "certificate of need" filing with the Health Department.

Dr. Danelo Canete, president and chief executive officer of Hawaii Medical Center, declined comment on the filing while the purchase is being reviewed by state regulators.

In its filings, Hawaii Medical said it doesn't foresee any changes to the types of services at the two St. Francis hospitals and that the buyers expect to retain the hospitals' 1,700 workers.

Hawaii Medical added that patient use of the two medical facilities will increase slightly under the physician-owned structure and that the hospitals expect to be operating at a break-even point by the end of the first year.

Hawaii Medical also included audited financial statements issued by St. Francis Healthcare, which show that the company posted a net loss of $611,000 in its fiscal year ending June 30, 2005.

The loss was down sharply from fiscal year 2004's net loss of $12.2 million.

The financial statement also shows that St. Francis' revenues rose to $162.1 million in fiscal year 2005 from the previous year's $145.8 million. But the company's expenses from continuing operations jumped to $179.8 million in fiscal year 2005 from the year-earlier's $166.3 million.

The higher expenses were partly due to increasing wages and rising costs for medical supplies.

St. Francis, which opened its Liliha complex in 1927, has been under severe financial pressure for several years because of recent government reductions in Medicare and Medicaid payments, the 2002 nurses' strike and new costly technologies.

St. Francis attempted to sell its hospitals last year to Queen's, Kaiser and Hawaii Pacific Health, but all three pulled out of the bidding, prompting Hawaii Medical to step in. In its filing, Hawaii Medical said if its purchase does not go through, St. Francis will have to close the two hospitals.

Reach Rick Daysog at rdaysog@honoluluadvertiser.com.