Craig Daily Press / TMH researches medical office building

Archive for Wednesday, March 4, 2009

March 4, 2009

The Memorial Hospital is exploring the addition of a medical office building to its new hospital site under construction in west Craig.

At its meeting last week, TMH board members unanimously approved, 7-0, hiring Greystone Brokerage & Development, a Franklin, Tenn., firm, for a medical office building feasibility study.

The study, which will begin in coming weeks, will make recommendations to hospital officials on size and scope of a proposed building, location on the new campus site, ownership options, development structure, lease rates and terms, and a timeline for development.

Once it begins, the study will take 30 to 60 days to complete, said George Rohrich, TMH chief executive officer.

No tax dollars would be used for the building's construction, TMH officials said.

The study was not put out to bid, Rohrich said.

However, Greystone came with several strong references, he said, including one from a CEO in Cody, Wyo., where the company performed a similar study for West Park Hospital.

Greystone then was hired to provide leasing, design, construction management, financing consultation and project coordination services for West Park Hospital's 62,000 square-foot medical office building. That building is under construction and slated for a spring completion.

A medical office building is a desired addition to the TMH campus, Rohrich said, but TMH officials can't know whether the building is possible without the study.

"We know we want an MOB," he said. But "until we get better analysis, we're just spinning our wheels."

Some area physicians have expressed interest in relocating to a medical office building, if one was built at or near the new hospital, Rohrich said.

Greystone's study will include meetings with local people - physicians, practice managers, TMH administrators and real estate agents, among others - with a stake in any potential medical office building.

"They'll meet with all of the players involved in this," said Samantha Johnston, TMH service excellence officer.

4 March 2009 at 7:15 p.m.

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grannyrett (Anonymous) says…

If you're going to have a medical building, why not use Dr. Tolds? It's in town and more convenient for the people that live in town. Wouldn't it cost less to buy the existing building than to build a new one? This is crazy.

4 March 2009 at 7:21 p.m.

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lonelyone (Anonymous) says…

I think they are trying to do like Steamboat did, which really is pretty handy. Go to the Dr. and from there go to the hospital, just a walk down the hall, to have your tests done.
I think it would be pretty handy, but I can see problems for the Dr.s in town that have their own clinics. It won't be to handy for them at all.

5 March 2009 at 7:04 a.m.

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AltitudeAdjustment (Anonymous) says…

I think a medical office building is a good idea too, although it brings up a whole host of other issues. Stan Hathorn must be out of town this week because I am surprised he hasn't chimed in on this. From everything he has said they won't be able to make but a few payments on the new hospital before they are in financial troubles. Adding a few million more for an office building would add to that stress. I doubt Dr. Kipe and his group want to sell their practice for peanuts and assume a big mortgage up there. It does complete the campus, but from what other posts have said the hospital is strapped for cash right now and paying a consulting firm 30,000 to look into something at this point doesn't make much sense.

5 March 2009 at 9:47 p.m.

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highway1340 (Anonymous) says…

Champaigne dreams on a beer budget is what it sounds like. Tax payer's dollars aren't being used? Hey Mr. Roberts you must be pretty stupid if you help shovel the crap they are feed'n the public. I know you are a journalist and don't understand basic math, but I would hope that you would at least have some common sense. They just got a couple million from the tax payers in 2008 to pay for a new hospital and all that money was spent to keep the lights on because they ended the year with a couple hundred bucks in the bank according to Uncle Stan's report last month. If the two million was spent in 2008 where did it go? They didn't turn a profit in 2008 so where did the money come from to pay for this consulting group to do the study? And how much did they spend? 10,000? 20,000? You and the chief of finance up there must be related to my ex-wife because you guys sure know how to spend money you don't have on crap you don't need. If I was as bad at my job as the Press was at reporting the facts I would have been fired a long time ago. Have you ever actually done any investigative journalism. How about this? Take all the information you can get from the hospital, not just the stuff they let you see, but the really good stuff, and send it to someone who claims to know finances and ask them what they think of how the hospital is doing. When they come back and say the hospital is run by a bunch of numb-skulls then report that, but don't feed us a bunch of $H1t and tell us it is lime sherbert. We may be small town, but most of us aren't stupid.