Aurora hospitals size, cost matter to its critics

Waukesha Freeman, January 3, 2007

By ERIK BROOKS
Freeman Staff

TOWN OF SUMMIT An executive with Aurora Health Care defended its plans to build a $189 million, 110-bed hospital as part of a Pabst Farms medical campus that is considerably larger and more costly than a similar, albeit failed, project put forth in 2004.

Others were not as supportive.

Among the critics heard Tuesday when Aurora formally released its building plans was that of competitor ProHealth Care, a vocal opponent of Auroras past plans to build a western Waukesha County hospital that has remained largely silent on the topic recently. It said Aurora continues to move ahead with little regard for public sentiment.

It will be interesting now to see how Aurora attempts to justify their new proposal to the business community and others who foot the bill for health care costs, spokesman Sandra Peterson said in a statement.

Such is the ongoing debate over Auroras effort to build in Pabst Farms, a process that began more than six years ago and looks headed to a conclusion in the town of Summit, as the health care system moves through the approval process there.

The submission of the revised plans was a step toward that goal.

The Town of Summit Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the hospital, albeit a smaller and less costly one, in December 2004, only to see the Waukesha County board veto the decision. Town Chairman Leonard Susa said Tuesday he expects passage again this year, and this time county approval wont be necessary, meaning Aurora may be just several months from groundbreaking on the project.

Said pediatrician Dr. David Ulery, president of the Aurora Wilkinson Clinic: It has been a long process, and it still will be.

But an end is in sight something Aurora could not say for years as its plans to build first in Oconomowoc and later in the town remained tied up in the courts.

The project has had and will certainly have critics, but Ulery stood behind the development Tuesday. He said its cost more than twice as much as the estimated price tag when Aurora first unveiled its town of Summit plans in 2004 and size its number of beds is up from 88 less three years ago are in line with demand.

We look at our data, and we feel the growth in the area will support what we consider a regional hospital, he said.

As to the costs, Ulery said the 2004 projections were for the building only and did not include costs to equip the hospital and other construction expenses. Also, construction costs have gone up, and the proposed facility now is bigger, he said.

Ulery reiterated Auroras position that the larger footprint will help alleviate the need for any expansion early in the life of the building.

I cant speak for people who are not in favor of it, he said. We have lived with it for a number of years. We will have to deal with it.

Outcry this time around will be tempered, said Jack Meler, president and chief executive officer of HealthCare Direct LLC, a small Oconomowoc-based preferred provider organization that excludes Aurora from its network of providers. Meler said the health care system is too costly and has consistently fought making its prices public.

Its all greased because of the settlements, he said. Its pretty much a done deal.

Meler was referring to the August memorandum of understanding agreed to between Aurora, Pabst Farms, the town of Summit and Oconomowoc.

The deal paved the way for construction of the hospital to proceed in the town, and will free up Pabst Farms land held by Aurora in Oconomowoc allowing for a new outdoor shopping center to be built.

Meler said demand for the additional hospital beds is not there.

There is public health need, and there is Aurora need, he said. The public health need was being taken care of. The Aurora need was generated by the fact that they bought the Wilkinson Clinic (in 1997), and for them allowing those (patients) to go to a non-Aurora hospital is a travesty. That is what this is all about. That is what its always been about.

Indeed, any new hospital infrastructure is probably unnecessary, said Dianne Kiehl, executive director for the Business Health Care Group of Southeast Wisconsin, a coalition of businesses working to combat high health care costs.

I wouldnt isolate Aurora, she said. If the message isnt being heard, its not being heard consistently. Look at how much building is going on.

Concerns over health care costs were at the crux of the Waukesha County board decision in 2005 that initially blocked construction of the hospital.

Town supervisors, however, purposely avoided those issues in making their decision and should this time around, Town Manager/Planner Henry Elling said.

Those are really market questions that the town cant base any decisions on, he said.

Susa, however, has his own feelings on the suddenly bigger and costlier hospital.

The original plans were submitted, what, back in 2001? It hadnt changed in 2004 from the 2001 (Oconomowoc) design, he said. If you were building a house today versus you built a house back in 2001, would it be different? Probably.

And look at whats changed in the medical industry. Good grief.

ProHealth Care reacts

Sandra Peterson a spokeswoman for ProHealth Care, which operates Oconomowoc Memorial Hospital less than three miles from the site on which competitor Aurora Health Care wants to build its new town of Summit hospital campus issued the following statement regarding the Aurora plans Tuesday:

We were not surprised. Their new proposal calls for a hospital that will be exponentially larger than the one originally proposed and thoroughly debated. Throughout their attempt to develop a hospital in Waukesha County, they have acted with little regard for public sentiment. But it will be interesting now to see how Aurora attempts to justify their new proposal to the business community and others who foot the bill for health care costs.

Regardless, ProHealth Care will continue to serve the people in this area, as we have for nearly a century.

A possible Aurora timeline

Aurora Health Care hopes to begin construction on its new Pabst Farms hospital campus this spring, allowing the facility to open in summer 2009.

That timeline will depend in large part on the town of Summits approval process.

The town plan commission will discuss the plans and hear a presentation from Aurora at its Jan. 18 meeting, Town Manager/Planner Henry Elling said Tuesday.

The commission will also hold a special meeting later this month to discuss the project in more detail, with action on the plans possible at its Feb. 15 meeting, Elling said.

Assuming the commission provides a formal recommendation then, the matter would go before the full town board March 1, when supervisors would consider approval of the hospital campus site plan and plan of operation.

There is no reason to be rushed at this point, Elling said. It is a large project, and we want to make sure we are thorough in our review.

After town board approvals, Aurora could then seek building permits for the site and begin construction at that point.

Meanwhile, grading on the 53-acre site and removal of a pond on the property could begin at any time, since the town and Waukesha County have already granted permits for that work to Pabst Farms, Elling said.