BAR HARBOR — Mount Desert Island Hospital has announced a significant reduction in its rates for rooms, the second Hancock County hospital in recent weeks to make such a move.

Effective immediately, the rate for a private room at the hospital will be $505 per day, down from the previous $719 charge. For semiprivate rooms, the cost will be dropped from $714 to $500 a day. In addition, all hospital surgical services, including outpatient surgery, will be reduced by 30 percent.

Rates were slashed at the Blue Hill Memorial Hospital Feb. 21, with the charge for a semiprivate room reduced from $715 to $485 per day.

According to Ron Beard, chairman of the MDI Hospital board, the trustees voted for the change in order to stay competitive with other area hospitals. “The trustees have been picking up a lot of signals that people are more cost conscious about where they choose to get elective treatment,” he said.

Beard said the decision reflected a change in the hospital’s policy to “operate as close to the break-even mark as possible.” Beard said such a break-even policy “may not be in our long-term interests if we have the highest rates of any hospital in the county.”

The formula for per-day room rates is regulated by the commission, which sanctions the practice of shifting costs from Medicare patients to others. The new rates are actually the lowest that state regulations permit the hospital to charge.

Unlike their counterpart in Blue Hill, the Mount Desert Island Hospital board does not anticipate a restructuring of its staffing policy to offset the reduction in room rates. Beard said the hospital intends to “become more efficient in our operation.”

The hospital is presently involved in the annual budget process, where all facets of operation will be considered, he said. “We will be looking at cost savings and how the hospital is staffed.” Beard noted that the hospital had no plans for reductions in the staff.