Hospital construction expected to start in fall

About $20 million worth of construction for new patient and surgical wings as well as outpatient treatment rooms is being planned to start at Community Hospital beginning in October.

Phase I of the construction, specifically a new 25-bed wing, is slated to start in fall and will replace the existing patient "pods" built in 1974.

Phase II will follow and consist of the patient pod demolition and construction of the new surgery wing and outpatient rooms. New construction will consist of approximately 47,000 square feet, which will result in net additional square footage of approximately 22,000 after the destruction of the existing patient pods.

The construction will include new patient rooms for more useable space, private treatment rooms for outpatient services such as pain epidurals, blood transfusions, and chemotherapy and adding private recovery and prep spaces for outpatient surgery,.

Current patient rooms are irregular is size and shape and the new rooms will allow for better use of space, said Jim Ulrich, Community Hospital CEO.

Other areas of improvement include expanded surgery rooms to allow for more equipment required for procedures today, a more secure environment for the OB/GYN area, along with private patient and family consulting areas and family waiting locations.

Climate and noise control also will be addressed, he said with updated heating and cooling systems and a more efficient use of utilities.

The new design will eliminate the current "pod" layout and decentralize the nursing stations, enabling nursing and clinical staff to spend more time with the patients.

Ulrich said the Community Hospital Board of Directors approved at its regular meeting May 20 resolutions that gave the go-ahead to continue with designs for the project, with the schematic design to be completed by this week. More detailed design stages will follow, he said, and then construction can begin.

The board also approved the financing method to be used for the project, using direct funds from the USDA Rural Development Community Facility Loan and Guarantee program and loans from participating local and area banks.

Half the costs will be covered by the USDA loan, Ulrich said, with loans from area banks and funds from hospital reserves to cover the remainder of the project costs. The portion of the financing coming from the local and area banks are to be guaranteed by the USDA loan after construction is completed.

The project will take about two and half years and patient care services will not be interrupted during construction.

Rates at the hospital will not increase as the result of this project, Ulrich added.

As Community Hospital provided 60 to 70 percent of its care to patients with either Medicare or Medicaid insurance, the level of reimbursement remains the same, he said. No matter what amount is charged, the level of reimbursement does not change. Ulrich said in 2008, Community Hospital wrote off about $10 million in the difference between charges and reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid,

Commercial insurance carriers, such as Blue Cross, are reimbursed for certain services according to a set fee schedule and those without insurance or without financial means to pay for care received are often written off as charity care, Ulrich explained. That added up to $900,000 in 2008.

"One only has to understand this dynamic of healthcare reimbursements to know that unusual rate increases cannot and are not being planned on, to make this construction project financially feasible," he said.