In 2008, the region’s massive hospital building boom will continue, and more health care systems will be consolidated. Last year, Froedtert & Community Health and Columbia St. Mary’s announced plans to merge. Recently, the two systems announced more details about the merger.
The boards of directors for Columbia St. Mary’s and Froedtert recently announced they had approved a joint operating agreement to form Progressive Health.
Under Progressive Health, Froedtert will maintain its strong relationship with the Medical College of Wisconsin.
William Petasnick, president and chief executive officer of Froedtert & Community Health, and Leo Brideau, president and CEO of Columbia St. Mary’s, will serve as co-presidents of Progressive Health.
“Progressive Health will provide a tremendous opportunity to transform health care throughout this region,” Brideau said. “It will be the premier health care system, leading advancements in patient quality and safety, avoiding duplication and enhancing our obligation to be good stewards of community resources.”
Progressive Health will be led by a 16-member, community-based board of directors, which will be chaired by James Wigdale, chairman emeritus of Marshall & Ilsley Corp. Brideau and Petasnick will serve as members of the board.
Another health care system, West Bend-based SynergyHealth, has decided to become affiliated with one of the large Milwaukee health care systems, and next week the company will decide which system it will partner with. SynergyHealth board members and leaders are considering an affiliation with Aurora Health Care, Progressive Health and Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare.
“Right now (Synergy’s board members and leaders) are in discussion with all three,” said Synergy spokeswoman Janet Ford.
The Synergy board plans to meet on Jan. 30 and announce its affiliation decision on Jan. 31, Ford said.
“While each of these three systems have made clear their intention to substantially enter or expand their presence in this market should they not be our choice, our responsibility is to stay focused on the selection of the best partner,” SynergyHealth Board chairman Thomas Johnson said. “An affiliation will enable us to control rising health care costs while simultaneously bringing the benefits of advanced technology and specialized care to the residents of Washington County.”
SynergyHealth believes it will benefit from an affiliation by gaining additional resources and attaining a critical mass of patients to provide a higher level of care at its clinic in West Bend and its St. Joseph’s Hospital in the Washington County Town of Polk, Ford said. Many Washington County patients are choosing to go to other health care systems for services, and an affiliation could help attract those patients, she said.
“We are a smaller system and hope to bring additional services to Washington County,” Ford said. “We feel we could bring a higher level of care to Washington County (by combining with a larger system).”
Synergy must adapt to the changing health care marketplace, which is seeing numerous consolidations in southeaster Wisconsin, Johnson said.
“We must acknowledge a health care marketplace in southeast Wisconsin that is radically different when SynergyHealth was formed (in 2002),” Johnson said. “Right now, we are in a position of strength, as evidenced by the significant interest from other health systems. But, the rapid consolidation of health care providers adversely impacts our long-term ability to compete and survive as a small, independent health system.”
Two area health care systems recently acquired physician practices.
Waukesha-based ProHealth Care recently announced that it has joined with Medical Associates. The addition of Medical Associates adds about 100 physicians to ProHealth Care, plus 900 employees working at 12 locations in Waukesha, Washington and Milwaukee counties.
“The integration of Medical Associates into ProHealth Care will be ongoing over the next two to three years,” said ProHealth Care spokeswoman Sandra Peterson.
Also, Aurora recently announced that it has completed the affiliation process with Advanced Healthcare. The 250 physicians and specialists of Advanced Healthcare practice at 14 clinics and four surgery centers in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Washington and Ozaukee counties.
Health care building projects
Health care providers in southeastern Wisconsin are investing more than $1 billion to build new or to expand existing hospitals and clinics. Some of the projects will be completed this year, and others will continue to be under construction this year.
In March, Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare will open the $86.8 million, 275,000-square-foot outpatient hospital that it is building northwest of South 27th Street and Oakwood Road in Franklin.
Froedtert Hospital and the Medical College of Wisconsin are building an $82 million, 280,000-square-foot expansion of Froedtert’s cancer center, which is expected to be completed this spring.
ProHealth Care and St. Louis-based Centerre Healthcare are building the $16 million, 40-bed inpatient Rehabilitation Hospital of Wisconsin, just south of I-94 on Meadowbrook Road in Waukesha. The hospital is expected to open in the fall.
“It will be the only freestanding acute rehabilitation center in eastern Wisconsin and will serve a wide variety of patients from throughout the region,” Ed Olson, CEO of Waukesha Memorial Hospital, said in a news release. The hospital will feature a therapy swimming pool, large inpatient/outpatient gym, therapy courtyard and an apartment for daily living training. The hospital will create 112 full-time equivalent jobs.
The biggest ongoing health care building project is the $417 million project to consolidate Columbia St. Mary’s Columbia and St. Mary’s campuses at Prospect and North avenues on the east side of Milwaukee. The project, expected to be complete in 2010, includes 835,000 square feet of new hospital space and 190,000 square feet of renovations to existing space. The new hospital will have 513 inpatient beds, a 32 percent reduction from the number of inpatient beds at the two existing hospitals.
Children’s Hospital is building a $118 million, 425,000-square-foot, 12-story expansion of its facility at the Milwaukee Medical Complex in Wauwatosa. The addition, expected to be complete in 2009, will add 58 beds, expanding the hospital’s bed count from 236 to 294, and an additional 72 beds could be added in the future.
Aurora plans to build a new, 400,000-square-foot hospital and an 80,000-square-foot medical office building at Highway 60 and Port Washington Road in Grafton. The facility will have 89 hospital beds. Construction could begin this year.
Aurora is also building a hospital in Oconomowoc, southeast of I-94 and Highway 67 in the Pabst Farms development. The $189 million medical center will have a 593,000-square-foot, 110-room hospital and a 180,000-square-foot medical office building. It is expected to open in 2009, and about 950 people will work there.
In addition to its project with the Medical College, Froedtert is also building a $32 million, 100,000-square-foot expansion to its north tower. The expansion will add one floor of 32 acute care beds, one floor of 26 intensive care beds and two shelled floors for completion as needed. The project is expected to be complete in 2009.
