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North Kansas City, Mo., Hospital Expansion to Add 800 Jobs.
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News February 7, 2003 By Julius A. Karash, The Kansas City Star, Mo. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Feb. 7–North Kansas City Hospital on Thursday announced plans for a five-year, $135 million expansion that will add 130 inpatient beds, increased outpatient services and 800 employees.
David Carpenter, the hospital’s president and chief executive officer, said the expansion is needed to accommodate a surging demand for health-care services north of the Missouri River.
“We’ve been experiencing significant growth in the last three years,” Carpenter said at a news conference at the hospital. “As we sit here today, we are 93 percent occupied and have averaged over 90 percent occupancy since July 1.” Most of the project will consist of adding six stories to the existing Health Services Pavilion, which will give it 12 stories and a 13th floor that will house mechanical equipment.
“We basically are going to be building a 150-bed hospital on top of ourselves,” Carpenter said.
While the expansion will add 150 new inpatient beds, the hospital at the same time will cut 20 inpatient beds from an existing 40-bed medical-surgical unit, which will be turned into an obstetric unit with 20 beds. The net gain to the hospital will be 130 inpatient beds, for a total of 480.
The hospital estimates the project will cost $132 million to $137 million. Construction is expected to begin in May.
Carpenter said the expansion will be the largest in the history of the 45-year-old hospital, which completed a $94 million expansion in June 2000.
“It’s a long way from the little hospital on the hill of the ’50s to now one of the largest medical centers in all of Kansas City,” he said.
In comparison, HCA Inc. has promised to spend $450 million in capital improvements at Health Midwest hospitals in the next five years if its purchase of Health Midwest is completed. North Kansas City Hospital and Health Midwest jointly operate Hedrick Medical Center in Chillicothe.
An area economic development official welcomed the new jobs, but local health-care consultants questioned the need for such a big expansion.
The 800 additional workers would represent a nearly 30 percent increase in employment at the hospital, which currently employs 2,700 people. Carpenter said the new employees will represent a full cross section of hospital workers, including many nurses. go to website north kansas city hospital
The expansion plans come at a time when the health- care industry is plagued by a shortage of nurses. Carpenter said North Kansas City Hospital will recruit the employees it needs by making itself a great place to work.
The new employees would add at least $20 million to the hospital’s payroll, which now stands at $90 million. The additional jobs would be a welcome boost to the Kansas City economy, which has been reeling from layoffs at Sprint, Aquila and other companies.
“It’s been relatively rare for us to see a positive job announcement recently in the past year, so this is good to see,” said Frank Lenk, director of research for the Mid-America Regional Council. “It probably largely reflects continued growth in the Northland.” Besides growth in the Northland, Carpenter attributed the hospital’s ballooning patient census to wider demographic trends.
“Something unique is happening in our society today, in that we have the baby boomers beginning to require health-care services at the very same time their parents are in their peak years for health care,” he said. “This is perhaps the first time this has ever happened in our society.” Carpenter said more than 20 percent of North Kansas City Hospital’s patients now come from south of the river, compared to virtually none a few years ago.
But three area health-care consultants disputed the need for a hospital expansion so large in scope.
“One hundred thirty new beds — there’s no way in the world it can be justified,” said Don Flora, who has long maintained that the Kansas City area is burdened with an excess of hospital beds. “I believe that the needs of the aging baby boomers have very little to do with inpatient care.” Consultant John Leifer said that “though inpatient demand will certainly rise with the aging population, I seriously question the need for this level of expansion in the North Kansas City market. This expansion represents a massive expenditure of health-care dollars in an era in which total health-care costs have already exceeded $1.5 trillion (a year) nationally.” Consultant Christine Hamele said that while the Northland is seeing a lot of growth, “I would venture to guess that a significant amount of that growth is not baby boomers, but a younger population that does not necessarily need or require inpatient care.” Hamele said the overall trend around the country is toward less inpatient care because of less demand for hospital stays of more than 24 hours. She said the exceptions typically are specialty hospitals, such as free-standing heart hospitals or cancer hospitals. in our site north kansas city hospital
But Carpenter said North Kansas City Hospital is growing to meet the demands of the community, and he said that growth will not add to the cost of health care.
“The demand for services is exceeding what we can supply today, because of the aging population, because of the growth of the Northland,” he said.
Carpenter said the expansion is being designed so that it will not overshoot or undershoot the community’s needs. He said space on the 11th floor of the pavilion will be held in reserve for an additional 50 inpatient beds if they are needed. New beds will be brought on-line in groups of only 25 at a time, and the expansion will be slowed down if the demand is not there.
In addition to 130 new inpatient beds, the expansion will include five-to-seven new surgical suites, 1,319 new parking spaces and expansion of services such as pain management, cardiology, neurology, pharmacy, radiology, physical therapy and respiratory therapy.
North Kansas City Hospital is owned by the city of North Kansas City. Carpenter said the project will be paid for with a mix of revenue bonds and the hospital’s reserves, though the exact balance has yet to be worked out.
Carpenter said the hospital will only need approval for about $5 million worth of new equipment from the Missouri Health Facilities Review Committee, which oversees the state’s certificate-of-need program. That filing will be made when the project is well under way.
He said the expansion will require an increased use of health-care information technology, which will have an impact on North Kansas City Hospital’s dealings with Cerner Corp., a North Kansas City-based company that has long supplied the hospital with such technology.
“We are in discussions right now with Cerner on expanding our relationship with them,” he said.
Mike Valentine, president of Cerner Mid-America, said Cerner “is very excited about North Kansas City’s announcement to massively expand their hospital and about the role technology will play in enabling their growth. Our visions of health-care automation are closely aligned, and this has fueled the relationship that Cerner values greatly.” HCA, FON, ILA, CERN,
