Dive Brief:
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Cleveland-based MetroHealth is transforming nearly half of its main campus into open space and connecting to the multi-use Towpath Trail and other amenities.
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The move is part of a transformation plan to build a facility and create an area that is environmentally friendly. The plan includes a six- to eight-acre park on land that now has a garage and treatment facility.
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The plan would transform a 52-acre site into a “green, transit- and pedestrian-friendly zone” that will feature a “hospital in a park.” The project will increase green space from one to two acres to 25 acres.
Dive Insight:
To pay for the new 12-story hospital and upgrade project, MetroHealth issued $946 million in revenue bonds last May. The project, which is scheduled to begin construction this year and get completed by 2022, is another example of hospitals appealing to patients as consumers and individuals and not just as patients who need medical care.
In a blog post about the project, MetroHealth wrote, “We want to turn our campus into something everyone in our neighborhood, not just patients and visitors, can enjoy...The new park will give residents, patients and visitors a space to relax, walk and enjoy the outdoors."
MetroHealth said the move isn't only about beautifying its campus. “So much of the focus on our transforming campus has been about the new hospital that will be at its center, but we’re just as excited about what else we’re doing to improve our community. There’s so much more to our transformation than construction and new buildings.”
Many hospital leaders no longer view their facilities just as a place to provide care. They are becoming more integrated into the surrounding community and becoming more friendly locations that are not just about procedures and tests. This is happening as hospitals cut back on in-patient beds, improve hospitals and move more into outpatient.
MetroHealth's project focused on environmental improvements and health, but hospital officials are surely looking at how it will improve its bottom line as well. Hospitals are trying ways to increase revenue, including divesting, merging and finding efficiencies. The days of hospitals being full of in-patient beds are over. Now, hospitals have to figure out how to maximize outpatient services, while also offering facilities that go beyond medical care.