|
Mar. 11Summa Health System announced plans today to expand three of its hospital emergency departments and build two full-service, stand-alone emergency rooms in the region.
The new free-standing, 24-hour emergency departments will be constructed in Green, where the health system already has a Summa Health Center outpatient facility, and in Medina and Montville townships, where the Summa Health Center at Lake Medina campus is under construction.
Both are expected to open next year.
"We believe it's extremely important to provide our community with the best access to emergency services where they need it and when they need it," Summa President and Chief Executive Thomas J. Strauss said.
The sweeping plans to expand emergency services also include a major two-story addition to the Akron City Hospital ER and expansions and renovations at Barberton and Wadsworth-Rittman hospitals.
The health system is spending $65 million to upgrade its emergency services, including $43 million for the addition to Akron City Hospital, Strauss said. Summa is borrowing money to pay for the projects.
Summa rival Akron General Health System opened the region's first satellite emergency department in 2007, when it unveiled an ER attached to its Health & Wellness Center-North in Stow.
Last year, Akron General teamed with Akron Children's Hospital to open a 24-hour emergency department attached to the Health & Wellness Center-West off state Route 18 in Bath Township.
The health system is exploring the possibility of constructing a Health & Wellness Center with a satellite emergency department in Green, as well as in other communities throughout the region, said Dr. Tim Stover, Akron General's president of outpatient services.
Summa's announcement won't change Akron General's plans, he said.
"It's part of our mission of taking health care to the patients," Stover said. ". . . We were the leaders in this, just as we're the leaders in health and wellness. I guess imitation is the highest form of flattery."
The Cleveland Clinic broke ground late last year on a $96 million Twinsburg Family Health & Surgery Center off state Route 91 near Interstate 480.
When it opens in 2011, it will be the Cleveland Clinic's first outpatient center with a 24-hour emergency department and a helipad to transport critically ill patients to the main hospital in Cleveland.
This spring, Cleveland-based University Hospitals also is opening its new UH Medina Health Center, which will include an urgent-care center.
Summa's Strauss said competition isn't driving the health system's decision to open its own satellite ERs in the region.
"We don't make decisions based on the activities of our competitors," he said. "We make decisions based on the needs of those communities and the physicians."
Suburban satellite ERs can help hospitals in competitive markets build a referral base for patients, said Dr. Eric Adkins, a spokesman for the American College of Emergency Physicians.
Those stand-alone ERs also can benefit the patients by providing quicker access to care and reducing wait times in overcrowded, urban hospital emergency departments, said Adkins, an attending emergency medicine physician at the Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus.
"A free-standing emergency department can really provide communities a great resource as far as keeping people from having to travel greater distances," Adkins said.
Patients who need surgery or immediate access to sub-specialists might be better off going directly to a main hospital campus, he said, although satellite ERs typically have a system in place to transfer patients quickly when needed.
Summa's Medina County ER will be on the campus of a new 100,000-square-foot outpatient medical center on state Route 18 in Montville and Medina townships that is scheduled to open in November. The site is about a mile away from Medina Hospital, which recently affiliated with the Cleveland Clinic.
Summa still is finalizing the location for the Green ER, which could be attached to the health system's existing outpatient center that it shares with the Green YMCA, Strauss said.
The projects will cost at least $2.5 million each.
Summa plans to spend another $17 million next year to renovate and expand the ERs at Barberton and Wadsworth-Rittman hospitals, Strauss said.
The health system still is evaluating its plans for the St. Thomas Hospital ER, which likely will continue to have general emergency medicine services as well as an expanded focus on behavioral health, Strauss said.
The Akron City Planning Commission is reviewing site plans on Friday for the proposed two-story addition to the north of the existing emergency room at Akron City Hospital.
Construction is expected to begin this spring and take about two years to complete.
The project will increase the ER size from 43 beds to 75 and expand the square footage from 19,000 to 84,000.
The expanded emergency department will feature all private rooms and state-of-the-art testing equipment, Strauss said.
Cheryl Powell can be reached at 330-996-3902 or chpowell@thebeaconjournal.com.
To see more of the Akron Beacon Journal, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.ohio.com.
Copyright (c) 2010, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
|
