Alice Peck Day Plans On Building New Clinic
Lebanon — Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital plans to proceed with $17 million of development work that will include construction of a new 44,000-square-foot outpatient clinic as well as completion of a set of hospital renovations that began in 2011.
“This is just a really exciting project for us that moves us into the future,” the hospital’s chief executive, Sue Mooney, said in an interview Wednesday.
The two-story outpatient clinic will cost $13 million and house a range of medical services from 50 providers and 100 to 200 support staff.
Currently, outpatient services “are really scattered around our campus,” Mooney said. During a visit, a patient may have go to three or four different locations to get X-rays, laboratory tests and other services, she added.
“We think (the new clinic is) going to be a much better experience for the patient,” Mooney said.
Construction is expected to begin later this year and take about 12 months. The Monadnock Economic Development Corp. is able to borrow money at favorable rates, so it will “borrow, build and own” the new clinic, and lease it on a long-term basis to Alice Peck Day, which also will have an option to buy it, Mooney said.
Alice Peck Day also will m ove ahead on improvements to its radiology and same-day surgery units, lobby and registration area. The $4 million cost of that work will be covered by philanthropic gifts and the hospital’s operating earnings and savings, Mooney said.
These renovations got the green light under a certificate of need for a two-phase hospital upgrade project with a total price tag of up to $16.1 million that was approved in May 2011 by the New Hampshire Health Services Planning and Review Board.
The first phase of the project began later that year and included a new medical-surgical wing with 15 private patient rooms, two semi-private rooms, four observation areas, a rehabilitation gym, a palliative care room and miscellaneous office, meeting and gathering space. The hospital also upgraded its mechanical, electrical and plumbing infrastructure. That work was completed in 2012.
The current work, which will be the second phase of the project, was expected to start two years ago. It was delayed by the hospital pending completion of a strategic plan that included the new clinic and affiliation with Dartmouth-Hitchcock, according to a release from the hospital.
Mooney said the plan made clear that as payment reform changes the way hospitals deliver services and generate revenue, it is important to consider the role of preventive care, care coordination, health and out-of-hospital services.
The plan also views a future of cooperation with Alice Peck Day’s larger neighbor in Lebanon.
Mooney said this about that relationship: “We are at a place with Dartmouth-Hitchcock where we have agreed to affiliate and we are in the midst of due diligence.”
Rick Jurgens can be reached at rjurgens@vnews.com.
