COEUR d'ALENE - Lack of manpower at the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare may have cost the community 125 health care jobs, but Mayor Steve Widmyer says he is not ready to throw in the towel just yet.

After spending two years preparing to build a $7 million medical rehabilitation center in Coeur d'Alene, Advanced Health Care Corp. was told this week that it will have to wait another two years for a license.

"The licensing division in Idaho won't entertain any requests for licensing for at least two years," said Robert Dellenbach, who is working on the project for Advanced Health Care. "That is a deal-killer."

Niki Forbing-Orr, a spokesperson for Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, said her agency has many certifications to deal with, and only a limited amount of resources to get them done.

She said the two-year delay is due to federal guidelines that her agency has to use in the certification process.

"We could issue a state license right away," she said. "But if they want to bill Medicare or Medicaid, they need to get the federal certification."

To federally certify medical facilities, the state contracts with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, but federal guidelines require they use a complex prioritization process.

Forbing-Orr said there is a four-tier process that prioritizes existing health care facilities seeking re-certification over certifying new facilities.

She said her agency has to work through certifying the lower-numbered tiers before they can certify a facility on the fourth tier. Due to resource and staff limitations, her agency has a 12- to 24-month wait for tier-four facilities.

"So this one is low priority," she said.

Dellenbach said he has talked with Mayor Widmyer and Jobs Plus President Steve Griffitts about the situation, and he hopes they can help with the license.

"If this is a job-killer, then we need to be putting resources against this," Widmyer said. "We are talking about more than 100 jobs here. This makes me wonder how many more companies are going to be held up by this."

Widmyer said he plans to contact state legislators to see if something can be done to save those jobs.

Dellenbach said his company has spent about two years putting the project together, and was ready to close on a property in the Riverstone development when it was told it would have to wait.

"It's unfortunate. We were ready to do all of it," he said. "We even re-aligned a road and worked with the city permitting and all of that.

"Now the community will lose out on a lot of construction jobs, and about 125 health care jobs."

Advanced Health Care owns and operates 12 short-term medical rehabilitation facilities in six western states. The facilities provide high-end private suites and gourmet food to patients as an alternative to short-term care in a nursing home.

"It's like a five-star hotel," Dellenbach said. "I just got out of one three days ago. I had an accident that required surgery on my foot so I checked in for rehabilitation."

The company is opening two more facilities this year. One is located in Las Vegas, and the other is in Kansas City.

"We are not getting the same hold-back in those states as we are in Idaho," he said, adding that if things were to change, they would begin construction immediately. "We are primed, cocked and ready to fire."

Dellenbach said his company has a complete set of city-approved plans, which cost the company quite a bit of money. The denial of a license has also cost the company a number of deposits, down payments and some earnest money.

He said waiting two more years to build the facility isn't financially feasible.

"The property is just too expensive to purchase and sit on it for two years. We couldn't make it work," he said.

At first, Dellenbach said they were told that it might take about a year to get the license, which usually takes four to five months in other states.

"We thought it was a little unusual, but we were able to adjust our model to accommodate that," he said. "And then we hear two or three days ago that there is a two-year moratorium. We can't make it work with a two-year delay."