HCA plans to expand Nashville hospital

CENTENNIAL MEDICAL CENTER WOULD GET 51 BEDS IN A $150 MILLION PROJECT

 

By John Mugford

 

Centennial Medical Center, part of Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Inc.’s TriStar Health System, recently filed a certificate of need (CON) with the state of Tennessee for a $150 million campus expansion.

The 606-bed Centennial facility would get 51 new beds as well as a new cancer center and dedicated heart and vascular center. TriStar would transfer the beds to Centennial from its Skyline Madison campus, just outside of Nashville.

TriStar’s announcement came just a few days after an administrative law judge turned down HCA’s plans to build a $110 million, 56-bed hospital in Spring Hill, Tenn., about 30 miles south of Nashville. The judge stated that two hospitals in the area – Williamson Medical Center and Maury Regional Hospital – were enough to provide the region’s healthcare needs.

Centennial CEO, Tom Herron, told local news outlets that the expansion is needed to keep up with increased patient volumes. He noted that the hospital grew 5 percent last year and another 2 percent in 2007, adding that the hospital has “run out of beds and operating suites.” By expanding the heart and cancer centers, the hospital would free up space for other service lines to grow as well.

Tennessee’s Health Services and Development Agency had approved a certificate of need (CON) for the Spring Hill facility last year.

Centennial’s expansion will go before the state’s health services agency in the coming months.

The Centennial expansion isn’t the only planned for Nashville, as the Monroe Carrell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt recently announced plans for a $203 million, eight-story addition. If approved by the state, that new facility would open in 2012.

Dallas system

lands investors

for hospital project

DALLAS –  Dallas-based Methodist Health System has lined up 26 physicians as investors for its new 15-bed hospital in McKinney, Texas, in the outer ring, far northern suburbs of Dallas. In fact, the hospital would be the system’s first venture north of U.S. Interstate 30.

When the hospital is completed in late 2009, physicians would own 43.5 percent of its operating company, with Methodist owning 50.5 percent. Leawood, Kan.-based Nueterra Healthcare, a developer of outpatient surgery centers and surgical hospitals, would own 6 percent.

According to news reports, the physician investors put up $1.3 million to initially capitalize the project. Methodist also plans to solicit physicians to invest in a medical office building (MOB) on the campus. Nueterra would develop the hospital and the MOB.

HCA planning

free-standing ED

in northern Virginia

STONE RIDGE, Va. – Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Inc. is planning to build a freestanding emergency department in Stone Ridge, Va., in Loudon County. The 12,000 square foot facility would be located on a 50-acre plot dubbed Stone Spring Medical Campus. It would be the first phase of construction on the site.

HCA has also applied for a zoning exception that would allow it to build a new 200,000 square foot, 108-bed hospital on the site. HCA is also planning a 55,000 square feet outpatient services facility and 100,000 square feet of MOB space. The facilities and the emergency department would take up to 32 acres of the 50-acre site, allowing 18 acres for future development. The Loudon County Board of Supervisors is expected to decide on the zoning application by early 2008.

 

Other forces are at work in growing Loudon County, considered to be in the far exurbs of Washington, D.C.

Falls Church, Va.-based Inova Health Systems is also vying to build a 113,000 square foot healthplex on a 95-acre plot that it controls in Loudon County. The facility would include an emergency department, surgery center, radiology services and an MOB. It would be Inova’s second healthplex in the county.

Inova and HCA are also fighting a 2-year battle over HCA’s attempt to build Broadlands Regional Medical Center in Ashburn, Va., located four miles from Loudon County’s only hospital, Inova Loudon.

The state of Virginia has approved HCA’s proposed 164-bed hospital, which Inova is appealing, but Loudon County officials have refused to approve zoning, which HCA is appealing.

Heart hospital

looks to be thriving

In Oklahoma City

OKLAHOMA CITY – Caring for the heart is becoming big business for the Oklahoma Heart Hospital in Oklahoma City. Because of rapid growth, the 5-year-old heart hospital recently broke ground on a $30 million expansion to add 70,000 square feet, doubling the size of the emergency room and adding 16 inpatient beds and 10 day beds.

The heart hospital is on the campus of Mercy Health Center in the far northern part of the metropolitan area. It is jointly owned by Oklahoma City-based Mercy Health System (parent of Mercy Health Center), the Oklahoma Cardiovascular Associates physicians group and other physicians. The completion date for the expansion is expected to be early 2009. The construction contractor is Conway, Ark.-based Nabholz Construction Corp.

The current 240,000 square foot facility has 78 beds and has outpaced its expected growth, according to officials. This growth is the driver behind the expansion as well as plans for another heart hospital on the south side of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area.

Investors in that project expect to break ground this month on a $75 million heart hospital near U.S. Interstate-240. In addition to the original investors, Midwest Regional Medical Center in Oklahoma City and Norman Regional Hospital in Norman, Okla., have each agreed to become 20 percent shareholders in the new heart hospital.

Florida hospital

is expanding and

adding an MOB

NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. –  Morton Plant North Bay Hospital in New Port Richey recently received an initial approval from the City Council to proceed with plans for a $49 million expansion project. The project would include the addition of two new multi-story buildings – one a hospital wing and one an MOB.

The project would take place in five phases and would include the addition of a 600-stall parking structure, as well as an outpatient surgery center. The new wing would add 34 new beds to the 120-bed hospital. The new beds, as well as the other facilities, are needed to keep up with growth in this town of 17,000 people located north of St. Petersburg.

The four-story, 60,000 square foot MOB and outpatient building would include a cancer center, a new sleep disorders unit, laboratory services and outpatient rehabilitation services. An enclosed walkway will connect the medical office building to the hospital.

The architect on the project is Tampa, Fla.-based Harvard Jolly Inc.; the contractor is Orlando, Fla.-based Brasfield & Gorrie LLC. The developer of the MOB is the Orlando office of Indianapolis-based Lauth Property Group.

Wake Forest Baptist

asks for community

input on hospital

HILLSDALE, N.C.–  Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, based in Winston-Salem, N.C. held two forums in mid-October to solicit input on its proposed hospital in Davie County. The forums would include an overview of Wake Forest Baptist’s proposals for eastern Davie County. In attendance will be representatives of the architectural firm as well as the construction and planning managers.

 

Wake Forest Baptist announced in August they plan to spend $125 million to replace the existing and aged Davie County Hospital in Mocksville with another in Hillsdale.

 

However, this is not the only hospital proposed in the area. Wake Forest Baptist’s rival, Novant Health, which is also based in Winston-Salem, plans to build a hospital in Clemmons, N.C., relocating its current Medical Park Hospital in Winston-Salem. This proposal is likely to make things difficult for Wake Forest Baptist, as the two hospitals would be in competition with each other. Observers say it is unlikely that both would obtain certificates of need.

 

 

Plans revealed

for new southern

Calif. hospital

BARSTOW, Calif. –  Although ground-breaking for the new Barstow Community Hospital is still years away, important details of the planning process were revealed in late September. Plans for the 44-step project were unveiled to the Barstow City Council. Officials said construction could start as early as July 2010.

 

The new hospital would feature 58 private rooms, an eight-room intensive care unit and a 20-bed emergency room. Although the hospital is currently licensed for 56 beds, it only uses 42. However, the number of surgery suites would be doubled and a catheterization lab and chemotherapy department would increase the services provided by the hospital, perhaps meriting the increase in beds.

 

 

U of Missouri

hospital planning

$240M in upgrades

COLUMBIA, Mo. – A project aimed at upgrading outdated facilities is being planned at University Hospital in Columbia, Mo.  The $240 million renovation project would take place in three stages.

The first stage, which is slated for completion in 2010, would add a new orthopedics facilities, a surgery tower and a new staff parking garage. Stages two and three are expected to be completed by 2020. Thirty acres of land is to be cleared for the construction of the new parking facilities. The nearby Children’s Hospital would also be renovated.

New clinics could

boost system’s reach

outside Durham, N.C.

DURHAM, N.C. –  Durham Regional Hospital has long operated under the shadow of Durham’s most powerful hospital, Duke University Hospital.

However, Durham Regional is looking to establish satellite clinics in outlying areas of Durham. It’s a move that could have the hospital emerge as a major regional player, according to a report prepared for Durham Regional by Falls Church, Va.-based Noblis Inc.

The consulting firm examined healthcare delivery in the Triangle area of North Carolina. The firm recommends that Durham Regional develop a series of clinics, perhaps in partnership with Duke University Hospital.

Durham Regional is owned by Durham County, but Duke University Health System operates the facility under a contract and lease. The report was prepared at the halfway mark of Duke’s 20-year contract with the county. Durham Regional’s bottom line has been taking a bit of a hit lately, as its profit margin was $5.3 million in 2006, down from $6.4 million a year earlier.

Doc-owned hospital

breaks ground

in Boise, Idaho

BOISE, Idaho – A group of local physician-investors recently broke ground on a 54-bed for-profit hospital near downtown Boise. Construction on the $57 million, 130,000 square foot Riverside Hospital is slated to begin by the end of the year and be completed by early 2009.

The new hospital would have 46 private patient rooms and eight intensive-care rooms.

The Boise area is home to not-for-profits Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center and St. Luke’s Boise Regional Medical Center. Officials at the not-for-profits have expressed concern that the new for-profit would siphon the area’s well-insured patients and leave them with more bad debts and charity care. Such a scenario, the not-for-profits argue, would increase the local cost of healthcare and increase the shortage of healthcare professionals.

Hearing could

settle hospital

turf war in N.C.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. –  The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services was expected to hold a hearing in mid- to late-November to consider new hospital certificate of need (CON) proposals from competing health systems. The two new hospitals are proposed for sites about four miles apart.

Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center has proposed a $123.5 million, 225,000 square foot hospital in eastern Davie County.

Meanwhile, Forsyth Medical Center, also of Winston-Salem, has proposed a $96 million, 50-bed hospital in western Forsyth County, a short distance from Wake Forest’s proposed hospital. Forsyth is part of Charlotte, N.C.-based Novant Health. The new hospital would be called Medical Park Hospital and would be a replacement for an existing facility. That current hospital would be converted to an outpatient center.

North Carolina’s Division of Health Service Regulation has until March to make a decision on the proposals.

For The Record

Cass Medical Center in Harrisonville, Mo., broke ground on a $55 million hospital to replace its current facility, opened in 1963. The new hospital will open in mid-2009 and will include 35 beds, which will allow it to maintain its critical access hospital status… Louisville, Key.-based Kindred Healthcare will build a $20.8 million, 60 bed hospital at Melbourne (Fla.) International Airport. Construction will begin next spring on the three-story project… $5 million in renovations will be completed on the second and third floors of Susan B. Anthony Memorial Hospital in El Dorado, Kans. Wichita-based Health Facilities Group, a medical planning and architecture firm will do the design and development of the renovation… A study paid for by Palo Alto Medical Foundation says that more hospital beds will be needed in San Mateo County, Calif., in coming years. The study backs he foundation’s proposal for a 97-bed $375 million hospital and MOB in San Carlos, Calif… Plans are being drafted to rebuild Hawaii’s largest public long-term care facility, Lehai Hospital, which is operated by Hawaii Health Systems Corp. The plan will look to propose renovating the existing facilities or replacing them entirely… Intermountain Healthcare’s new flagship hospital opened late this month. The hospital on the 100-acre campus was designed to look more like a spa and less like a clinical facility… Construction is expected to begin this fall on Charleston, S.C.-based Roper St. Francis Healthcare’s future 85-bed hospital in Mount Pleasant, S.C. The $71 million project would also include a three-story, 66,000 square foot MOB. The construction contractor on the project is charlotte, N.C.-based BE&K Building Group. Completion is scheduled for mid-2010… Big-D Construction Corp. of Salt Lake City recently started construction on the $25 million Bear River Valley Hospital in Tremonton, Utah. The 16-bed, 44,319 square foot hospital is slated to open in fall 2008. It is a replacement for the existing Bear River Valley Hospital, which serves residents of northern Box Elder County. In addition to the hospital, the project includes a 19,714 square foot MOB. Salt Lake City-based Architectural Nexus is the architect on the project… Meeker County Memorial Hospital in Litchfield, Minn., is undergoing a $26.5 million expansion that is scheduled to take place in three phases. Groundbreaking on the first phase was slated to begin in early November and be completed by 2009. That phase calls for a 75,000 square foot addition. The remaining phases would entail remodeling existing hospital facilities… Via Christi Wichita Health Network needs to dig its new location out of the floodplain in western Wichita, Kan., before breaking ground next year on its new $75 million hospital. Most of the land on its 120-acre plot is covered by the floodplain. In order to build on the site, dirt work improvements and drainage is required. The problem is common in this area of Wichita, which is located between two creeks prone to flooding. q