LINTON, IND. —
Construction is expected to start in early spring on a new $6.5 million expansion-renovation of the Greene County General Hospital.
The majority of the 8,500-square-feet of new space will increase the size of the hospital’s emergency room to 8,000 square feet from 3,000 square feet, Jonas Uland, chief executive officer of the hospital, said in a Wednesday announcement of the project.
The expanded ER, which includes 7,099 square feet of new space on the east side of the hospital, will have eight examination rooms, up from the current three. A canopy entrance will be added, connecting to a new glass atrium for the ER, which serves about 10,000 patients annually, Uland said.
It remains undetermined how many, if any, jobs might be added, Uland said. The hospital currently employs 270 people.
“The reason for the renovation is that we have outgrown ourselves in several departments, like physical therapy, pharmacy, lab and X-ray,” Uland said.
Lab and imaging areas will have 4,000-square feet of renovated space, while pharmacy and physical therapy will have 4,300-square feet of renovated space. A lobby/waiting area will have 700 square feet of new space.
New canopy entrances will also be added for ambulances and at the front entrance to the hospital, said Ernie Dreher, senior planner and architect with The Estopinal Group, based in Jeffersonville. The Estopinal Group also served as the architectural firm for Union Hospital in Terre Haute.
A fourth canopy is planned off of the hospital’s radiology department, to give protected coverage for a mobile MRI machine, which can be driven to the hospital periodically in a semi-tractor trailer, Dreher said.
The 14-month construction project is slated to be completed in the spring of 2013, Dreher said. Tim Norris, chief financial officer at the hospital, said the project will initially be funded through a construction bank loan, then through the issuance of a tax-exempt bond.
The 76-bed hospital in Linton opened in 1974. However, in 2003 the hospital became a critical access hospital and as such, can keep only up to 25 patients overnight for up to three consecutive days, Uland said.
“It is out-patient dominated. It is a category for small hospitals. There are about 35 critical access hospitals in Indiana,” Uland said. “A lot of that has been structured that way as everything is out-patient oriented, both surgeries and other ancillary testing.
“The benefit of going critical access hospital has been to be able to get a different payment methodology under Medicare. We get 101 percent of cost, where under a prospective payment, it would be very difficult for small hospitals that have a sometimes small volume of patients and high fixed costs,” Uland said.
Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com.
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