St. Alphonsus Health System plans to convert its acute-care hospital in Nampa, Idaho, to an ambulatory center and spend $80 million to build a hospital at its other campus in the southern Idaho city, the system announced last week.
The Boise, Idaho-based system, which also has locations in Oregon, is part of Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health. Its decision to convert its hospital into an outpatient facility reflects a growing trend among health systems across the country as inpatient volumes drop.
Cleveland Clinic announced in January that it would turn its Lakewood (Ohio) Hospital into an ambulatory facility. Boston-based Steward Health Care System and Nashville-based HCA have made similar moves in the last year.
The St. Alphonsus Medical Center located on 12th Avenue, one of two identically named facilities operated by the system in Nampa, lacks up-to-date medical technology and isn't appropriately located to serve Canyon County's growing population, the four-hospital system decided.
So, St. Alphonsus will build an acute-care hospital and expand its maternity and heart center at its other Nampa campus located near Interstate 84, a more accessible location, it said.
Once complete, the expanded campus will offer a total of 100 acute-care beds, down from the 152 currently offered at the hospital. The new facility, expected to be completed in 2017, will feature a complete diagnostic center, a six-suite surgical theatre, a 10-bed observation unit and an 18-bed intensive-care unit.
The former hospital will operate as an outpatient facility, with an emergency department, doctor's offices, laboratories and radiology services. The Catholic not-for-profit system began evaluating its need for a new facility in 2006, with help from patients and community leaders.
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