MU Health proposes $230 million project

Health care at MU could see major changes if draft proposals presented to the UM System Board of Curators are approved at their next meeting in May.

Divided into three phases spanning roughly 14 years, Phase One is projected to cost $230 million and start the process of replacing University Hospital.

“University Hospital, in particular, has been growing very quickly, and we’re very full,” said Jim Ross, chief executive officer of MU Health Care. “So we also need to expand very quickly to accommodate all of the patients and their families.”

MU Health Care would like to see its market share increase from 17 percent to 25 percent by 2015 and especially maintain its draw from rural areas. MU Health Care’s primary and secondary market serves 25 mid-Missouri counties from which 83 percent of the MU Health Care’s patients come, said Jo Ann Wait, director of public relations and marketing.

The proposal includes the three main MU Health campuses: University Hospital at MU, Columbia Regional Hospital in eastern Columbia and the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center on Business Loop 70 off Garth Avenue.

Phase One would see the addition of 120 private adult beds to the 50-year-old University Hospital, which would increase the percentage of private rooms in the hospital from 43 percent to 83 percent. Fifteen new operating rooms would also be added to University Hospital, increasing the MU Health Care surgery capacity by more than 50 percent.

“We’re already running out of operating rooms for our patients,” said Wait.

A new Ortho Institute and Ambulatory Surgery building, as well as a 1,000-space parking structure, would be built on the southeast corner of Monk Drive and Hospital Drive.

Portions of University Terrace apartments would be torn down to accommodate the new structures. To make the approach to University Hospital more aesthetically pleasing, Monk Drive would be widened and a center median would be added.

The Ellis Fischel Cancer Center would be given an entirely new look on the outside while reconfiguring clinic space to allow for growth on the inside. Also during Phase One, most of the medical equipment at the cancer center would be replaced.

Columbia Regional Hospital is in the best condition and would require the least amount of work. MU Health Care would like to see more patient services routed through Columbia Regional to decrease demand on University Hospital beds and operating rooms.

Funding for the $230 million Phase One would come from three main sources: $120 million from loans and bonds; $90 million from money on hand — profit; and $20 million to be raised from donors.

Sketches presented to the curators at their meeting last week showed the Phase One addition to University Hospital would be built where two residential life buildings and a hospital parking ramp stand. Cramer and Stafford residence halls also be torn down to accommodate the new University Hospital.

“We’ve been working with hospital and campus representatives,” said Wait. “The campus has been very involved in all of this.”

Frankie Minor, director of MU residential life, said his department has taken the potential loss into account and has expanded current building projects to allow for more flexibility, should the need arise.

“The challenge is that on any campus, space is at a premium,” said Minor. “It’s unfortunate that historic facilities might have to give way to this process, but if it’s better for the campus, and in this instance for the betterment of the community and the state of Missouri, then it seems like a good decision.”

Boone Hospital spokeswoman Renae Nicholes declined to comment on the proposed renovations at the city’s other hospitals. However, she noted that the hospital’s 80,000-square-foot Center for Advanced Medicine, set to open this spring, was built to make access easier for patients; it places all outpatient services under one roof.

Ross emphasized that the proposals were drafts and that the plans may change before the curators next see them.

“We’ve still got a lot of work to do on the sizing of the facilities,” said Ross. “We’re an academic medical center. We’re here to take care of patients and family first, but we’re also here to teach and take care of our faculties’ academic endeavors in the field of research.”