Northeast Springs getting its second new hospital in a year

The fanfare of a ribbon-cutting ceremony and the solemnity of a Catholic blessing on Wednesday moved Penrose-St. Francis Health Services closer to opening the second new hospital in northeast Colorado Springs in a little over a year.

The 350,000-square-foot hospital begins accepting patients 7 a.m. Aug. 16 with a full array of services, including an emergency room, critical care unit, Flight for Life hangar, women's health center, birth center and neonatal intensive care.

Fourteen months ago, Memorial Hospital North opened not far from the $207 million St. Francis Medical Center. It might seem like medical overkill, but officials from both city-owned Memorial Health System and the Catholic/Adventist-based Penrose-St. Francis say their projections set years ago for increased need still hold. And they're convinced a growing and aging population will keep the hospitals busy and lead to a healthy bottom line.

"I know it looks like a medical arms race, but there are increasing medical needs with the community growing to the north and east. Hospitals and doctors are responding, and like any project, you may have excess capacity for a little while but not in the long run," said Dr. Dennis Schneider, a Colorado Springs Health Partners internist who has admitting privileges at both hospital systems.

Penrose-St. Francis will close a smaller, older hospital it owns on North Academy Boulevard, Penrose Community, on the same day the new one opens.

Hospital construction is a matter of demand, said Rick Haugh, spokesman for the Colorado Hospital Association.

"When the new University (of Colorado Hospital) and Children's Hospital opened in Denver there were questions about where they were going to get the patients. They're both full now," Haugh said. "I'm not sure how that happens - if it's an ‘if you build it they will come' thing. But the demand in Colorado is apparently there."

Northeastern Colorado Springs, where St. Francis and Memorial North are located, is exploding with new residential developments, businesses and roads, said Michael Scialdone, chief financial officer of Penrose-St. Francis.

"People want to receive their health care close to where they live or work," said John Suits, vice president of business development and advocacy for Memorial.

Until Memorial North opened, the nearest hospital serving patients in the east and northeast part of town was the 108-bed Penrose Community, which has fewer services than either of the new hospitals.

Emergency services are particularly in demand, said Dr. Michael Roshon, medical director of the emergency department at St. Francis.

"All you have to do is look at emergency wait times at the two main hospitals, Penrose and Memorial, during the winter when a lot of people are sick. It's three to four hours, which we think, as physicians and nurses, is a sign of systemic failure," Roshon said. "We want to provide the extra capacity."

The 156-bed St. Francis Medical Center will open with a Level 4 trauma designation and have four critical care unit beds that can be expanded to 12, if enough patients use the facility, said Dan Harmon, interim clinical manager. The city's two main hospitals near downtown are Level 2 trauma sites, which means they will continue to get patients who have life-threatening conditions.

Memorial North is not designated to accept trauma patients but announced in June it will add a 10- to 12-bed critical care unit early next year. Suits said the decision was not in response to St. Francis opening with critical care services, but rather what patients and doctors are saying they want.

After more than a year in business, 98-bed Memorial Hospital North is averaging 60 percent capacity, which is close to projections, said Steve Schaefer, the system's vice president of strategic development. Some departments are busier than others, such as the birth center, with a 20 percent increase in deliveries in June, for example.

System-wide, Memorial has seen lower than expected operating revenue for the last three months, with a $2 million shortfall in June, which CEO Larry McEvoy attributed to "low volumes in high-acuity areas" - meaning the critical care area at Memorial's central building.

Memorial officials do not foresee a drop in market share, which is nearly evenly split in half between the two nonprofit hospital systems.

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Contact the writer: 636-0235 or debbie.kelley@gazette.com

PUBLIC TOUR

The public can tour St. Francis Medical Center at 6001 E. Woodmen Road, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday during Community Day.