PLYMOUTH, Minn.—Allina Hospitals & Clinics, Minneapolis, is adding a round-the-clock emergency room to its WestHealth clinic in Plymouth, in line with its long-term expansion plans for the western suburban campus.

A news release said the new ER, when finished by the end of this year, will be an 18,000-square-foot addition to the 180,000-square-foot campus. The release did not include a price for the addition, noting only that it was a “significant investment.” WestHealth already offers primary care, outpatient surgery, imaging and other services. The new ER will be staffed by emergency room physicians affiliated with Allina's 649-bed Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis. The news release said the original design for the campus included plans for multistage growth, starting with a “health and wellness” campus in 1994, and then expanded clinical services in 1998. After the expected completion of the ER this year, future expansions will include a transitional-care unit that the system said will help patients receive care in settings less costly than traditional hospitals.

Patient care is being provided at a nearby facility, above, as Mercy prepares to demolish St. John’s Regional Medical Center, which was hit by a tornado last May.

JOPLIN, Mo.—Mercy health system, based in Chesterfield, Mo., set Jan. 29 as the day it would begin demolishing St. John's Regional Medical Center, which was rendered useless by a tornado last May. A wrecking ball and grappling equipment will be used to bring down the 162-foot high, 750,000-square-foot building. An implosion, which typically would be used to bring the building down, was ruled out because of old lead mines in the area, according to a news release from Mercy. Workers salvaged as much as they could from the building, and aluminum, copper and steel are being salvaged and recycled, according to Mercy.

St. John's Regional Medical Center.

Concrete and asphalt created from tearing down the buildings and removing parking lots is set to be crushed for use as backfill in redevelopment of the site. Windows and pieces of plastic piping from the sprinkler system were saved for testing to see how they weathered the storm. Demolition is expected to take six weeks. Mercy is building a hospital that will be called St. John's Mercy Hospital, scheduled to open in 2015 on a separate site three miles away, and currently is providing care in a hard-sided modular facility. The system plans to build a component hospital by spring.

ST. PAUL, Minn.—Minnesota's total number of reported adverse events rose 3.6% last year to 316 from 305 in 2010, according to a report from the state's health department. All Minnesota hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers are required by law to report on 28 types of events. Two categories of adverse events—pressure ulcers and wrong procedures—were responsible for most of the increase, according to a news release. The number of reported pressure ulcers jumped nearly 20%, from 118 in 2010 to 141 in 2011. The number of wrong procedures performed on patients increased considerably during the same period, from 16 to 26, or 63%. “Ten of these events were related to incorrect implants being placed: five during cataract surgeries in which the wrong power lens was placed, two during breast implants in which the wrong type of implants were placed, two during knee replacement surgeries and one during an ankle surgery,” according to the report. “Nearly all of the wrong procedure events took place in the OR; relatively few happened in interventional radiology or other procedural areas.” Although the overall number of events increased, the state did see a nearly 17% drop in the number of events resulting in serious injury or death, according to the report. Specifically, improvements were seen in the number of falls, wrong-site surgeries and retained foreign objects.

CHICAGO—The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago is moving ahead with a long-running proposal for a new hospital, with plans to start construction next year on a project likely to top $450 million, according to an application to the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board. Modern Healthcare sister publication Crain's Chicago Business reported that the institute, which had $155 million in net patient revenue last year, would move to the new building when it opens in 2016, according to the application. The hospital is seeking board approval to spend $26 million on planning for the hospital and already spent $7.5 million on preparations. If planning is approved, the rehab institute would file a second application to build the hospital, which is estimated to cost $462 million. The new building would be 690,000 square feet, almost double the size of the existing structure. The rehab institute has outgrown its current home, which was built in 1974. “We've been operating above (85%) normal capacity for about the last three years, and above 95% for the past two years,” said Edward Case, executive vice president and chief financial officer of the hospital, which was founded in 1954. The institute plans to finance the project with a combination of debt, cash, investments and philanthropic donations. The hospital has obtained about $60 million in pledges for the project, according to its financial statement for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31.