Oconomowoc hospital to grow

Management battled Aurora over chain's expansion nearby

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, May 10, 2006

By AMY RINARD
arinard@journalsentinel.com

Oconomowoc - Oconomowoc Memorial Hospital will undergo a three-year, $37 million expansion and renovation, and the hospital's parent company, ProHealth Care, will invest in a $19 million clinic and medical office complex, hospital officials announced to employees Tuesday.

John Robertstad, president and CEO of Oconomowoc Memorial, said the two projects are designed to meet the medical needs of the growing population of western Waukesha County until at least 2015 and show a long-term commitment to the community by ProHealth Care Inc., which owns Oconomowoc and Waukesha Memorial hospitals.

ProHealth has been locked in a turf battle with Aurora Health Care, which has proposed building an $85 million, 88-bed hospital in nearby Summit and earlier sought to build a similar hospital in Oconomowoc. Aurora has filed lawsuits over the rejection of both projects.

In announcing the building projects to employees Tuesday morning, Robertstad said the hospital expansion and renovation plan had nothing to do with Aurora and had been under study since 1999, long before Aurora announced its plans.

"This is not about competition; it's not about another organization," he said. "It's about our patients and taking care of them today, tomorrow and into the future."

But Aurora officials said ProHealth's announcement only proves the validity of their argument that a growing population in western Waukesha County needs additional health care facilities.

"The irony of their decision is not lost on anyone, especially those of us at Aurora," said Sue Ela, senior vice president for Aurora and president of its Kettle Moraine region. "Their decision and their investment reinforces the arguments we've been making all along."

Aurora officials say they remain committed to building a hospital in western Waukesha County.

Plans for the Oconomowoc Memorial project call for the addition of 44,000 square feet of space plus the renovation of 80,000 square feet of the existing facility at 791 Summit Ave.

Construction would begin next spring, and it would take about 34 months to complete all phases of the hospital project.

The project would be funded through a bond issue, corporate revenue and donations from the community, Robertstad said.

Under the construction plan, which will require city approval, the emergency room would be remodeled and expanded with a more visible ER entrance built at the front of the hospital at the northeast end.

Robertstad said the current emergency room, located at the back of the hospital with only a sign directing people to its entrance, is difficult to find, too small and was not built with the kind of patient privacy amenities that most people now expect in a medical facility.

The hospital plan also calls for a new section of patient rooms to be built at the front of the hospital in a sweeping, glass-fronted addition next to the main entrance. This new construction also would house an expanded cafeteria.

A renovated main lobby area would be two stories high, with a larger waiting room and a new, more private admitting and patient registration area.

The existing medical office building now connected to the hospital would be partly renovated, with a community room and conference center space built on the first floor and hospital administrative offices moving to the third floor. The second floor would continue to house the offices of obstetricians and gynecologists, who would have access from that floor to the hospital's OB/GYN unit nearby.

Existing hospital patient rooms, now located toward the back of the hospital complex, would be remodeled and enlarged from 180 square feet to about 400 square feet. The new patient rooms to be built at the front of the hospital would be the same large size and, as now, all would be private rooms.

Robertstad said people expect larger patient rooms, which are becoming standard in the hospital industry.

The hospital renovation and expansion will result in an increase in the number of staffed hospital beds from the current 79 to as many as 90, Robertstad said.

In its long-standing opposition to Aurora hospital plans in Summit, ProHealth has maintained that the area does not need additional hospital beds and is adequately served by existing hospitals.

Robertstad said strategic planning by ProHealth shows the need over the next 10 years for "another 10 or so" beds at Oconomowoc Memorial.

"But, under any scenario, you can't justify another 88 beds," he said, referring to the Aurora proposal.

Also announced Tuesday was the construction of a clinic dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of muscle and bone ailments and a new medical office building housing doctors specializing in those illnesses.
The new Musculoskeletal Institute and professional office building will be built onto ProHealth's existing clinic in the Oconomowoc Corporate Center at the northwest corner of I-94 and Highway 67 - kitty-corner on the sprawling intersection from the proposed Aurora hospital.

Robertstad said ProHealth's investment in the new clinic and office building would be $2 million to $4 million, with the rest of the $19 million cost coming from a group of doctors investing in the project.

The clinic / office complex will have facilities to perform minor out-patient procedures and will be equipped with diagnostic equipment.

Construction is expected to begin in September and be completed in about a year.

Robertstad acknowledged that Aurora's proposal for a state-of-the-art hospital has raised expectations in the community about what kind of amenities modern hospitals should offer. Although Oconomowoc Memorial has had some additions built in the past and parts have been renovated, the hospital's original construction dates to the early 1950s.

The cost-conscious community, however, will not tolerate a "Taj Mahal" type of hospital, Robertstad said, calling the building and renovation plans announced Tuesday "appropriate for Oconomowoc."

He said ProHealth officials are confident the two projects will not increase the cost of health care at the hospital or clinic.

Those costs, he said, already are among the lowest in southeastern Wisconsin. In its opposition to Aurora's plan, ProHealth argued that building another hospital would only drive up the cost of all health care in the area.