“We’re planning to expand across our system, not just at Jewish Hospital,” said Mercy Health spokesperson Nanette Bentley. “We are following through to the Jewish Foundation to reinvest in the Jewish Hospital with new programs, improve access and to make it more convenient for patients and it was because of that promise that we were selected as a purchaser of the hospital in 2009.”
Construction is planned for 2013, although the price is not exactly set, Bentley said. Bentley insists that the planning stage will not be complete until early next year.
The reinvestment project to either renovate, upgrade programs or new construction projects will total in the “tens of millions,” Bentley said. Programs that will be affected include the intensive care unit, blood marrow and transplant center, emergency department, orthopedic, cardiology, neuroscience and the project will make all patient rooms private.
“That’s based on the fact patients tend to have an extended length of stay so we want to develop this area to make sure they are comfortable — it’s a top priority for us,” Bentley said.
Jewish Hospital is looking to create a center for patients with complex brain and spine issues.
Jewish Hospital and Mercy will also put in a $20 million capital investment for a new building on Edwards Road near Interstate 71 in Norwood, Bentley said. Construction there could start late next year. The building will also bring back a presence in Cincinnati after it moved in 1997 from its original location in Avondale to its current home in Kenwood.
Mercy’s investments don’t stop there, either. Construction is underway on the $200-million Mercy Hospital West Hospital in Green Twp. and the expansion of Mercy Health Fairfield’s fifth floor and renovation of its maternity unit, too.
Mercy Health expansion comes as other competitors, such as the newly created UC Health, invest millions on expansions of their own. After the disassembly of the Health alliance in 2009, Mercy purchased Jewish Hospital for $180 million from the Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati.
Mercy Health claims its expansion plans are not an attempt to attract more patients away from competitors.
“What guides our expansion is about better serving the community and we are the largest health system in the city so I wouldn’t necessarily consider that (competition) an issue,” Bentley said.
When the Health Alliance was first formed in 1994, its goal was to help the non-profit members compete in the business.
But almost 15 years later, the alliance dissolved, leaving the University of Cincinnati as its sole member, and the eventual creation of its own health network, UC Health.
October marked its first year in existence.
What contributed to the disassembly of the alliance between UC, Jewish Health System and Fort Hamilton Hospital was how hospitals can share resources and operations but not management, according to UC.
When Jewish Hospital in Kenwood was acquired by Mercy Health Partners and Fort Hamilton Hospital became part of the Kettering Health Network, the two hospitals took with them resources but no financial risks in leaving the alliance.
After an 18-month transition of jointly operating Health Alliance assets to manage financial risks, namely the Drake Center and West Chester Hospital, today UC Health operates University Hospital, West Chester Hospital, Drake Center, the Lindner Center of HOPE and UC Health Surgical Hospital.
“The reorganization of what is now UC Health has really gone well and there is a tremendous amount of collaboration within the system,” said Dr. Kevin Joseph, CEO of West Chester Hospital. “I had very little anxiety and a great amount of optimism in all this playing out.”
A year ago, UC Health issued approximately $209 million in bonds to fund capital projects, Joseph said, in one of its first steps.
Contact this reporter at (513) 755-5112 or kareem.elgazzar@coxinc.com.
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