Med Center board gets construction report

The Medical Center Operating Board, meeting Sept. 19, reviewed about $90 million in capital projects planned and in progress for the Medical Center.

The list includes a $58 million hospital expansion, a $1.4 million breast care center, a $1.25 million cancer center and an $8.5 million expansion of the south garage.

The hospital expansion, slated to be complete in December 2005, is a horizontal expansion of the existing building, with a renovation of the entire second floor to accommodate the rebuilding and expansion of the Perioperative Services and Heart Center. Interventional Radiology and a clinical laboratory are also included.

The breast care center, which will occupy 7,200 square feet of renovated space and house breast imaging and breast cancer therapy, is to be completed by May.

An expansion of the existing cancer center is also planned for completion then. The parking garage addition would create 419 spaces to replace those lost by construction, the loss of a leased lot and expansion of the reserved parking areas.

The construction is being paid for through bonds issued by the state — which the Medical Center will be responsible for paying off — as well as $4 million from Medical Center revenues.

Already under construction is a $3.25 million expansion of the critical care unit, which is funded through the Medical Center’s annual capital budget, and a $16.75 million clinical office building at the Fontaine Research Park, which will provide more space for imaging and clinical care.

Financial Officer Larry Fitzgerald outlined the hospital’s financial picture, which showed fewer discharges in 2001-2002 than 2000-2001 and fewer than anticipated in the 2002 budget. Despite this, Medical Center revenue in 2002 was higher than in 2001 and exceeded the amount budgeted, though Fitzgerald warned that this was due to some one-time revenues and fewer write-offs than anticipated.

The number of surgeries, which make money for the hospital, was down while operating expenses were up. Supplies proved more expensive than budgeted. Labor costs were $10 million over budget, though Fitzgerald said the Medical Center was making headway in reducing the size of its workforce.

The Medical Center workforce has been reduced by 181 full-time equivalencies, including 67 people in a reassignment pool, 48 of whom have been retrained and placed in other jobs, said R. Edward Howell, vice president and chief executive officer of the Medical Center. The rest of the vacancies arose through attrition. The Medical Center is trying to rearrange its workforce without layoffs, Howell said.
The Medical Center’s operating surplus for 2002 was $6 million, $8.7 million less than the previous year and $24 million less than budgeted.