Should the Board of Trustees approve funds this weekend for the construction a new facility, Medical Center officials plan to submit a certificate of need to the state in mid-October.
The Ambulatory Surgical Center is scheduled to be the first of three new buildings the Medical Center will construct during the next five years at an estimated cost of at least $146 million. The new buildings are designed to ensure the survival of the Medical Center in the highly competitive managed-care marketplace by increasing cost-effectiveness and containing consumers' health-care costs (see related story, page 1).
While the Board is expected to give the Medical Center the go-ahead, getting the state's Department of Human Resources to approve the center's certificate of need, which is necessary for construction, may not be as easy, said Kevin Moore, associate chief operating officer for the Hospital. The state will want to know how the center will be funded and staffed, and whether the center will create similar services in the Triangle region.
"The state certificate of need is not going to be a slam dunk," Moore said. "[State officials] are going to really challenge us to show that the volume of cases we have and the work that we're going to do is going to lower costs."
With the construction of the center, the Hospital would be able to physically separate minimally invasive procedures not requiring an overnight stay--such as knee arthroscopy, tonsilectomy and biopsies--from its already immense caseload. Annually, the Hospital performs about 10,000 minimally invasive procedures, which currently take place in the same area as major surgical operations, Moore said.
Handling procedures in a specialized facility translates into quicker service for patients and greater cost efficiency for the Hospital. The center will have eight surgical suites, two for children and six for adults, as well as several preparation and recovery rooms.
"These people can be handled... without being subjected to the same level of gravity, equipment and personnel [required for] inpatients," Moore said. "[They] can get in and get out quickly."
Part of the center's stop-and-go design allows patients to park on the second floor of Parking Garage 3 (see graphic) and enter the center directly, which is on the second floor of an eight-story clinical information office building.
Patients who have a procedure performed in the morning could be at home recovering by that afternoon, Moore said. In the past, patients were kept in the Hospital for an extended period for observation after operation, which significantly raised the cost of care.
Should a complication occur during or soon after surgery, the center's design allows the surgical team rapid access to an ambulance, which will take the patient to the main Hospital facilities, he said.
To ensure that patients have sufficient knowledge about how to care for and monitor themselves after surgery, the center will feature "an education room" that will provide literature and videos for patients before they leave.
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