Openings

• A facility dedicated to pediatric cardiac imaging and intervention, co-established by the National Institutes of Health and Children's National Medical Center, opened April 26 on the Washington, D.C., campus of Children's National. Working at the new interventional cardiac magnetic resonance suite at Children's and the NIH campus in Bethesda, Md., the ICMR team will focus on technology development, predominantly in the area of magnetic resonance imaging.
Mergers & Affiliations

• Trinity Health, Livonia, Mich., and Catholic Health East, Newton Square, Pa., have officially consolidated to create one of the nation's largest Catholic health systems, serving patients and communities in 21 states. The new organization will be based in Livonia while maintaining a divisional office presence in Newtown Square. It will have 82 hospitals, 89 continuing care facilities and home health and hospice programs that provide nearly 2.8 million visits annually. It employs more than 87,000 people, including 4,100 employed physicians.

• Cambridge (Mass.) Health Alliance and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center signed an agreement to form a clinical and academic affiliation to enhance care provided by both institutions. CHA patients will benefit from enhanced coordination, including shared electronic medical records, when they need more complex care from BIDMC specialists. BIDMC patients will benefit from access to CHA's community hospital services, ensuring they will be able to receive high-quality care close to home. CHA and BIDMC, which are both Harvard Medical School teaching hospitals, will collaborate on academic teaching and research to improve patient care and foster the next generation of medical professionals. Implementation of the affiliation is pending review by the state's Health Policy Commission as required under Massachusetts' 2012 health care reform law.

• Mountain States Health Alliance and Vanderbilt University Medical Center signed an affiliation agreement in May. VUMC will assist with recruitment of hard-to-find specialists and subspecialists to serve the Northeast Tennessee/Southwest Virginia area. VUMC also brings to the table a number of evidence-based care models that will help MSHA enhance the care of patients with such diagnoses as diabetes, heart disease and asthma.

• Memorial Medical Center of West Michigan, a nonprofit community hospital in Ludington, signed a letter of intent to partner with Spectrum Health System, based in Grand Rapids, Mich. The agreement will preserve MMC's board of directors to continue to be a local voice in governing the hospital. Other benefits include expanded health care services, better access to capital, improved access to medical specialists, additional professional opportunities for community physicians, and retention of MMC's local staff.

Transactions

• Scripps Health purchased the former San Diego Hospice hospital and eight-acre property in Hillcrest, Calif., in April for $16.55 million, by offering the highest bid in an auction in federal bankruptcy court. Scripps will use the facility for in-patient hospice care. Scripps launched its hospice program in February to provide options for the hundreds of patients annually that had been referred to San Diego Hospice from Scripps hospitals and physicians.

• Alameda Health System, Oakland, Calif., signed a letter of intent with Sutter Health, Sacramento, Calif., to transfer ownership of Sutter's San Leandro Hospital to Alameda Health System. The transfer is subject to the parties developing a definitive agreement by July 1. That agreement would then be submitted to the AHS board for approval. The LOI confirms that Sutter Health will transfer the assets of SLH — including the building, land and equipment — to AHS, which would continue to operate the hospital as part of its own health system. It also stipulates that Sutter Health will establish and fund a sizable community trust that will be available for use by AHS to support the operations of SLH. Alameda Health System hopes to conclude the transaction with Sutter Health sometime in the fall.

Projects

• Sharp HealthCare, McCarthy Building Companies Inc., and the Cunningham Group completed a master plan for the Sharp Chula Vista (Calif.) Medical Center, with a five-phased expansion of the hospital campus over the nearly two decades. Phase I, proposed for completion by fall 2015, would ready the campus for the major tower addition. Phase II, targeted for completion in spring of 2018, encompasses construction of the new East Tower, providing an additional 34 beds, expanding surgery and dietary services, replacing the receiving dock and building a new central cooling plant.  Phase III, targeted for completion in 2030, would include finishing out levels four and five on the new tower to add an additional 68 new beds. Phases IV and V, also proposed for completion in 2030, would include upgrading the existing the East Tower podium from SPC 2 to SPC-5, building a new West Tower to replace the existing 139 beds in the old, noncompliant East Tower, and decommissioning the old tower from acute care service.

• The Stanford University Medical Center broke ground May 1 on the new Stanford Hospital, as part of the Stanford University Medical Center project renewal. Rather than creating the typical base-and-tower hospital building, Rafael Viñoly Architects proposed a modular plan that can be easily adapted for a variety of uses, thus allowing both for incremental expansion of the hospital building and a horizontal development strategy that complements the low-rise campus context of Stanford University and its Medical Center. The new hospital will have 368 new private patient bedrooms (for total of 600 beds on site, 17 operating rooms, 11 interventional/radiology image-guided rooms, five MRIs, four CTs and one interventional MRI, a new Level 1 trauma center triple the size of the current emergency department, a new 1,000-car parking structure, five gardens for patients and visitors, walking trails and a meditation room, and seismically isolated building structure for protection of occupants and facility from catastrophic earthquakes. The project's construction and design is scheduled for completion in 2017. The new hospital will be open for patient care in early 2018.

• Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, N.Y. celebrated the completion of the superstructure at Tower Two of a new addition to Hutchinson Metro Centre on May 15. The new tower, scheduled for completion in the third quarter of 2014, is an 11-story, 280,000-square-foot building that Montefiore will lease in its entirety. It reflects an evolution in the delivery of health care, providing new space for multidisciplinary approaches to care and integrating technology that allows Montefiore to provide necessary treatments without the need for hospitalization. Simone Development Çompanies is constructing a building that meets Montefiore's patient-focused specifications and unique structural requirements of the imaging and surgical floors. The building will include an ambulatory surgery center, featuring 12 operating rooms and four procedure rooms; an advanced imaging center; onsite laboratory services and pharmacy; as well as new primary and specialty care practices. The initial lease agreement is for 16 years with the option to extend the lease or purchase the tower.

• CoxHealth in Springfield, Mo., broke ground May 15 on the Cox Medical Center Springfield campus. Cox Medical Center Springfield will be a nine-story, $130 million new patient tower. The project is estimated to take 18 to 24 months. KLMK will provide project launch.

• Martin Health System in Stuart, Fa., is currently constructing Tradition Medical Center, a 190,000-square-foot, 80-bed new greenfield hospital in Port St. Lucie, Fla. MHS hired KLMK for facility activation. Project completion is estimated for December 2013.

• Nash Health Care Systems in Rocky Mount, N.C., is expanding its main campus with the addition of a new women's center. KLMK is providing assistance in identifying alternative project delivery methods and project teams. KLMK will also provide project launch services.