enlarge John Patriquin/Staff Photographer

Mercy Hospital’s new facility along the Fore River in Portland is seen earlier this month. Maine Med is in the background.

The big players in health care in southern Maine are on the move -- literally.

Both Maine Medical Center and Mercy Hospital are building large new facilities that will open, at least in part, later this year.

Mercy picked a site outside of downtown Portland for its new facility, which will eventually replace the hospital's current home on State Street.

The first phase -- a 135,000-square-foot building on the I-295 connector along the Fore River -- will open this fall, with space for outpatient surgery and obstetrics, diagnostic imaging and labs along with beds for short-stay patients.

A larger, 200,000-square-foot building will follow, along with the rest of Mercy's operations, including the emergency room, critical-care facilities, major surgery operating rooms and other services. It's expected to be ready in 2012.

All told, it's a $185 million project.

Maine Medical Center is building as well, with a $170 million expansion, part of which is scheduled to open in September.

The addition includes a new garage with a helipad, space for a women and infants program, a new birth center and other facilities. Work on a new emergency department is starting, with the opening set for 2009. Maine Med is also adding to its research facilities in Scarborough.

In the meantime, health care officials are expected to continue to grapple with the biggest problem the industry faces: people.

There are more people seeking health care as the population ages, and hospitals are having difficulty finding enough doctors, nurses, technicians and others to help in treatment. Part of the problem is caused by difficulties in providing clinical experience for those looking to go into the health care professions and part by a new generation of professionals who are unwilling to give up their personal lives for a career and want more established schedules and fewer hours than their predecessors.

Executives at most of Maine's hospitals say it's a problem that they'll be dealing with long after the moves into new facilities are complete.