Inpatient Projects (November 2006)

Texas Children’s Hospital has big plans

ADMINISTRATORS UNVEIL $1.5 BILLION WORTH OF EXPANSIONS AND NEW FACILITIES

By John Mugford

 

These are not your ordinary health system expansion plans.

Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston recently announced that it is planning a whopping $1.5 billion expansion plan that could add as much as 2 million square feet of space to its metro area facilities.

Included would be a new 96-bed, $220 million children’s hospital in west Houston and a $575 million maternity center in the massive Texas Medical Center (TMC), which is a conglomeration of 22 million square feet of medical properties in a 740-acre area just south and west of downtown.

Also included in the plan is the country’s first neurological research institute – a $215 million project that would be located in the TMC – and an expansion of the system’s Feign Center for pediatric research.

The projects would add so much square footage and so many services by 2010 that officials with the Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH) system expect employment to increase by up to 3,000 new jobs – increasing the system’s total number of employees to at least 8,800 in the next four years.

“This investment is not about buildings; it is about the responsibility we as a leader in pediatrics have to accelerate the translation of research from bench to beside,” said Mark Wallace, CEO of Texas Children’s Hospital, in a news release. “It is very obvious to our board, our medical staff and our employees that there is a significant need in our backyard, in our country and across the world for research and development in key areas. Access to the highest quality pediatric care will suffer without an ongoing commitment to cutting-edge research; at Texas Children’s Hospital, we will not allow that to happen.”

Children’s has been planning a new inpatient facility in the west Houston area for several years, and in June 2004 the system acquired 44 acres just off Interstate 10 in an area being developed by Houston-based Wolff Cos. The chairman of the development company, David Wolff, has donated an additional 10 acres to the project.

The new hospital would initially have 96 beds, operating rooms, an emergency center, ambulatory care center, and a medical office building. Future expansions could be in the works, including an intensive care unit and obstetric services, according to system officials. The project is slated to begin in 2007 and be complete by 2010.

The system’s future $215 million Texas Children’s Neurological Research Institute is planned as a 15-story facility with 400,000 square feet. Texas Children’s has entered a 198-year lease for a 1.14-acre parcel from the Texas Medical Center.

As for the future Texas Children’s Maternity Center, the 141-bed, 700,000 square foot inpatient facility is slated for land across the street from Texas Children’s main hospital in the Texas Medical Center.

The new maternity facility is part of a venture between Texas Children’s and St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in Houston, a 52-year-old pediatric hospital that does not offer maternity services. As part of an agreement announced earlier this year, Texas Children’s will soon begin operating and managing St. Luke’s obstetrics division – St. Luke’s employees will become part of TCH.

Texas Children’s acquired the land needed for the future maternity facility from the Baylor College of Medicine.

In order to pay for the massive expansion and new projects, TCH officials plan to launch a $400 million capital campaign – $130 million has already been raised. Another $800 million would come from the system’s balance sheet, while the remaining $400 million would come through tax-exempt bonds.

Boston’s Beth Israel

pondering massive

expansion project

BOSTON – As Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston continues to serve a growing number of patients, it faces the possibility of running out of space in coming years.

As a result, officials at the busy 554-bed, 2.1 million square foot Boston hospital are considering a future expansion – a huge one that could add up to 900,000 square feet and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Beth Israel, by the way, has seen its patient volumes increase 53 percent between 2002 and 2005.

Officials say they have considered a variety of options to keep up with demand, including building another hospital facility in another location in or near Boston or expanding facilities at its East and West campuses on Brookline Avenue and Deaconess Road in the Longwood area of the city.

The fact that Beth Israel can even consider such a massive endeavor might seem remarkable, as the system was in a difficult financial position just a few years ago. In 2002, it posted a $25.5 million operating loss. However, the system turned things around quickly, posting operating surpluses topping $25 million in both 2004 and 2005.

“We’re basically in a stage where we’re planning to plan,” says Jerry Berger, director of media relations for Beth Israel. He says a recent local news story that provided some detail about a future expansion was “premature.”

Meanwhile, other Boston health systems are also looking at expansions to keep up with demand and the competition. Brigham and Women’s Hospital is proposing a $315 million expansion in Longwood, Massachusetts General Hospital continues with a massive building program, and Lahey Clinic in Burlington is finishing a $155 million expansion project. Tufts-New England Medical Center and New England Baptist Hospital are also considering joining together on a 190-bed hospital in the Boston suburbs.

Indiana (Pa.) Regional

considers $100 million

plan to privatize rooms

INDIANA, Pa. – Indiana Regional Medical Center has announced that it is considering the addition of a $100 million, 129,000 square foot patient tower on its main campus in Indiana, Pa., about 60 miles east of Pittsburgh. The new tower would have anywhere from four to six floors and increase the number of beds from 162 to 176.

While the number of beds would increase by only 14, the project will convert many existing rooms to private rooms. In addition, the project would add two rooms to the emergency department.

While the hospital ponders the larger expansion, it is moving forward on an $11 million outpatient clinic at the Chestnut Ridge Golf Resort and Conference Center in Blairsville, Pa., a small town about 12 miles south of the main campus.

According to news reports, the hospital’s board is expected to make a decision in December concerning the expansion at the main campus.

Tennessee gives OK

to 286-bed hospital

in Murfreesboro

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Middle Tennessee Medical Center in late October received approval from the Tennessee Health Services and Development Agency to build a proposed $284 million replacement medical campus in Murfreesboro, a town of about 60,000 people about 30 miles south of Nashville.

The campus would be built on 68.5 acres in an area called the Murfreesboro Gateway. The campus is slated to include a 286-bed hospital, MOBs and outpatient diagnostic and surgical facilities. Phase one, which is scheduled to begin in early 2007, would entail a 120,000 square foot MOB that would house the Middle Tennessee Ambulatory Surgery Center.

The hospital portion is slated for a groundbreaking in 2008. Middle Tennessee Medical is a member of Nashville-based Saint Thomas Health Services, which is part of St. Louis-based Ascension Health.

LSU eyes newfound

state surplus for hospital

project in Baton Rouge
BATON ROUGE, La. – After considering private financing options for a new hospital in Baton Rouge, LSU Health Care Services is now eyeballing state funding for the proposed $300 million public hospital.

That’s because the state has an improving budget, with a surplus estimated at $750 million, according to

According to LSU Health Services officials, the cost of borrowing for a government-sponsored hospital project would likely be much less that for a privately backed facility. LSU announced earlier in the year that it was considering having the proposed hospital built with private funds. The public health system would then lease the facility back from the private owner.

Even with the possibility of state funding, LSU was planning to continue seeking proposals from private developers for the proposed 200-bed teaching hospital and trauma center. LSU officials say a new hospital is needed to replace the aging LSU Earl K. Long Medical Center in Baton Rouge.

So far, LSU has heard from 10 separate, private groups that might be interested in developing the medical complex.

University of Arkansas

starts $165 million

hospital expansion

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences officials broke ground recently on a $165 million, 500,000 square foot hospital expansion in Little Rock.

The 10-story project is expected to add 174 beds, bringing the hospital’s total to 390 adult patient rooms and 64 beds for newborns. The hospital project includes phasing out some of the older patient rooms in the existing facility and adding a new emergency room, clinical lab and radiology department.

The hospital expansion is part of an overall $330 million project on the medical sciences campus that includes the addition of a 1,000-space parking deck, a psychiatric research institute with 40 inpatient beds, a seven-story addition to the Arkansas Cancer Research Center, and a replacement facility for the Arkansas State Hospital. UAMS is paying for the construction of the state-run acute-care facility for the mentally ill in exchange for neighboring land.

The hospital addition is scheduled for completion by late 2008.

Sutter Health considers

new hospital in

Marin City, Calif.

MARIN CITY, Calif. – According to local news reports, California giant healthcare provider Sutter Health is proposing to take control of a retail center in Marin City, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, and convert it to a medical campus. The campus could eventually include a 100- to 150-bed hospital and a women’s specialty clinic.

Officials with Sutter say the Sacramento, Calif.-based not-for-profit system is still weighing its options in southern Marin County. Marin City officials say the 182,000 square foot Gateway Retail Center, which Sutter would redevelop under its potential plan, is struggling.

According to the New Century Healthcare Institute, a San Francisco-based think tank, Sutter is considering opening a new hospital on the site with just 50 beds. The system would look at increasing the hospital in 50-bed increments over time.

Sutter’s plans, however, are not a lock. At least one elected city official told a local newspaper that the city is also considering allowing other redevelopment proposals for the property.

The news of the potential hospital plan comes on the heels of a settlement reached recently between the Marin Healthcare District board and Sutter Health. The agreement calls for Sutter to end its management of Marin General Hospital up Highway 101 in Greenbrae as early as January 2009. As a result, the local hospital district would be responsible for spending millions to have the hospital meet the state’s seismic requirements.

A healthcare financial analyst with Falls Church, Va.-based Lewin Group recently told Marin County supervisors that the opening of a large hospital in Southern Marin could hurt Marin General’s chances for survival. Marin General is licensed for 227 beds but has an average daily occupancy of 110 beds. The New Century Healthcare Institute, however, states that a new hospital in Marin City would be more likely to serve people in southern Marin who venture into San Francisco for healthcare as opposed to pulling business away from Marin General.

Meanwhile, Dallas-based The Cirrus Group is proposing to develop a 66,000 square foot surgical hospital across the freeway from the Gateway Retail Center.

 

FOR THE RECORD

Portsmouth Regional Hospital in Portsmouth, N.H., has plans for a $63 million expansion and renovation. The proposal still needs the approval of the state Department of Health and Human Services, as well as the city. News of the expansion comes at the same time that the hospital’s parent company, Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Inc., is in the process of being sold to private equity firms… Southern Ohio Medical Center in Portsmouth, Ohio, recently announced plans for a $67 million, 142,000 square foot expansion of its 222-bed facility. The plan includes the construction of a four-story tower, two-story surgery suite and emergency department, and the renovation of 50,000 square feet within the existing hospital. Turner Construction Co.’s Cincinnati office will provide construction management services on the project….  St. Luke’s Hospital in Bethlehem, Pa., is planning a new hospital campus on 180 acres outside of the city in Bethlehem Township. The first phase would entail the building of a 400,000 square foot outpatient clinic and regional cancer center. Construction of a new hospital, on the southern portion of the campus along the Lehigh River, would come later. Officials hope to start construction on the first phase in summer 2007, with construction would take 18 months to complete. The lead architects on the project are Martin and Dwight L. Fincher… Alegent Health of Omaha, Neb., recently unveiled plans for about $40 million in expansions, renovations and upgrades at its Midlands Community Hospital in Papillion, Neb., just south of Omaha. The 80,000 square foot expansion would be in response to a growing population in Sarpy and Cass counties. The plan calls for expanding the emergency department, adding a new intensive care unit that would hold eight to 12 beds, expanding and renovating the diagnostic imaging and/or radiology services department, and construction of an attached MOB. that will include a women’s imaging area… Allen Hospital in Waterloo, Iowa, recently announced plans for its most expensive expansion ever, a $47 million emergency room and cardiac care building. Construction is expected to begin in summer 2007 with the emergency room being completed about 18 months later, according to officials. The Allen Heart and Vascular Center, located on the second and third floors of the new facility, is scheduled for completion in late 2009. The facility will have about 70,000 square feet of space… Dr. Siva Arunasalam, director of the High Desert Heart Institute, is proposing to build a new 70-bed hospital in Apple Valley, Calif., a city of about 60,000 people near Victorville. According to Dr. Arunasalam, the hospital is needed to help fill the High Desert area’s 200-bed shortage. His proposed hospital would need a rezoning approval before ground can be broken… Baylor Medical Center at Frisco (Texas) recently announced that it is planning $20 million worth of new projects on top of the $57 million expansion currently under way. The expansions are expected to double the hospital’s staff to about 280 people. The latest expansion will add a 40,000 square foot second floor with a neonatal intensive care unit, an OB/GYN ward and three operating rooms. The hospital opened in 2002 with 50,000 square feet and by the time the latest projects are complete the hospital will have grown to 156,000 square feet. The architect on the projects is Arlington, Texas-based Ascension Group Architects; the general contractor is Dallas-based Medco Construction Co. q