ProHealth Care unwraps two projects for city

Oconomowoc Focus, May 11, 2006

Jonna Clark, staff writer

City of Oconomowoc - ProHealth Care officials unveiled two renovation and construction projects this week.

Oconomowoc Memorial Hospital (OMH) and the ProHealth Care Medical Center have both been given the go-ahead by the hospital's board for impressive revamps.

At a press conference Tuesday, OMH President and CEO John Robertstad said the new initiatives come as part of caring for the community into the future.

"This is not about competition," Robertstad said. "This plan is part of an ongoing commitment to and investment in the hospital our community built more than 50 years ago."

Projects include the Oconomowoc Physician Center (OPC), an 85,000-square-foot addition and renovation to the medical clinic at the corner of Highway 67 and I-94, and $37 million worth of renovations for OMH scheduled to begin in spring 2007.

The OPC is slated to cost $19 million with construction to start in fall 2006. It is a collaborative effort between independent physicians and ProHealth.

The OPC will give a permanent home to the Musculoskeletal Institute, connect to the current ProHealth Care Medical Center, provide office space and bring together a variety of specialists and services in one location.

Robert Zoeller, a physiatrist with Lake Area Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, said the OPC represents what doctors and patients have said they want in healthcare.

"Patients want to be able to receive a variety of services in one location, and the center will provide that," Zoeller said.

Services will include cardiology, orthopedics, general surgery, lab services, pharmacy and imaging.

Robertstad said the OPC will be operated as a limited liability company with part ownership coming from independent physicians, ProHealth and Irgens, a healthcare facilities group that manages and leases property.

ProHealth will contribute $2 million to the project.

As for OMH, Robertstad said two-thirds of the project will be in the form of renovation and one-third in new space, resulting in 11 additional hospital beds, a larger and more accessible emergency department, a more private registration area, community meeting space, and a new cafeteria front and center.

Robertstad cited healthcare-needs studies, and said the extra hospital beds, though modest in number, will meet the community's projected needs of one to two additional beds each year until 2015 and beyond.

Funding for the OMH renovations will come from the bond market and operating cash and savings the hospital has accrued, Robertstad said.

OMH Chief of Staff Brian Lipman said staff reaction to the plan has been overwhelmingly positive.

At the press conference, audience members made up mostly of ProHealth staff asked questions and reacted.

An unidentified audience member said the projects represented responsible healthcare expansion.

Another member thanked the board and administration, and added, "Now we finally have an answer to Aurora Health Care."

Aurora has been embroiled in a controversial bid to build a hospital in Oconomowoc since 2001, when the City of Oconomowoc rezoned lands in Pabst Farms to effectively keep Aurora out.

The Town Of Summit has since endorsed Aurora's plan to build an 88-bed hospital on another parcel in Pabst Farms. That plan was stymied when the Waukesha County Board voted down a change to the town's master plan that would have allowed it to move forward.

Robertstad said the OMH renovation plans began in 1999, well before Aurora came to town.

"I imagine Aurora will have something to say about this, but these projects are about accountability and caring for the community into the future," Robertstad said.