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76 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, September 16, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Rogue Valley's Finest EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend May 20, 2004 A new intensive-care unit is under construction at Rogue Valley Medical Center. The new �bed tower� that will house patient rooms is in the background. Mail Tribune / Roy Musitelli RVMC fast-tracks expansion By BILL KETTLER Mail Tribune Growing demand has prompted Rogue Valley Medical Center to move up its timetable for adding operating rooms and intensive-care beds. The hospital will equip two new operating rooms and 16 intensive-care beds in conjunction with a $92 million expansion and remodeling project that’s scheduled for completion in 2005. The hospital originally planned to build enough space to house the intensive-care beds and four new operating rooms as part of the expansion plan, and then leave the buildings unequipped for a few years, said Scott Kelly, vice president of planning, marketing and business development for Asante Health System. Asante is the parent company for RVMC and Three Rivers Community Hospital in Grants Pass. Kelly said increasing demand for operating rooms and intensive-care services during the past two years prompted the decision. Advertisement Two of the original four operating rooms will be left unequipped for future use. Construction is continuing on 160 new patient rooms and a new emergency department as well as a new cafeteria and food-service area. The lion’s share of funding for the rebuild comes from $90 million in bonds issued under the city of Medford’s hospital bonding authority. Paying the interest and principal is solely Asante’s responsibility. The project will double the size of RVMC’s intensive-care unit to 32 beds, and give the hospital a total of 12 operating rooms, with capacity to expand to 14. There are also 16 existing coronary-care beds for heart patients, which can be used for intensive care. Providence Medford Medical Center has eight operating rooms and 15 intensive care beds. Equipping the operating rooms and intensive-care beds will add about $11.4 million to the cost of RVMC’s expansion project. Kelly said the money will come from RVMC’s cash reserves. Although the hospital is run as a nonprofit corporation, it can build up a "savings account." Kelly said RVMC ran its intensive-care unit at 80 percent of capacity during the 2002 budget year, but occupancy will be 89 percent for the 2004 budget year, based on projections derived from eight months of use. "That means on any given day we might have only one or two beds available," he said. "Typically you want to have three or four beds available for emergencies." Kelly said the coronary-care unit saw similar increases in use, from 72 percent in fiscal 2002 to 80 percent (projected) in 2004. The volume of surgery has increased, too, both in number of cases and actual time in surgery. Kelly said RVMC’s surgery time rose 7.5 percent, from 842,000 minutes (hospitals count surgery time in minutes) in 2002 to 905,000 minutes in 2004, based on the first eight months of the budget year. The total number of surgeries rose from 7,872 in 2002 to 7,932 in 2004, an increase of less than 1 percent. However, the number of inpatient surgeries (those that require hospitalization after the procedure) rose 8.9 percent, from 4,170 to 4,544. Kelly said the cost of medical equipment that is installed in intensive-care rooms and surgery suites makes the project expensive. Besides the ordinary plumbing, heating and ventilation equipment, each intensive-care room, for example, will be equipped with a number of monitors that record patients’ vital signs. Monitoring equipment alone will account for about $1.5 million, said Andrea Jablonski, Asante’s marketing director. Some rooms will be equipped to provide negative air pressure to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, and all will be equipped to provide kidney dialysis, Jablonski said. Even "ordinary" medical equipment is expensive. Jablonski noted that intensive-care beds cost about $18,000 to $20,000 apiece. Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities